DHARAMSALA: At about 11.35 AM on Saturday India head coach Rahul Dravid walked out onto the field to have a look at the pitch, perhaps, for the last time in the series. It was lunch on day three of the fifth and final Test between India and England. The giant scoreboard at the HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala read England 103/5, still trailing by 156 runs.
While India started the day with 473/8, it did not take long for England to wrap things up. India added only four runs, James Anderson took his 700th Test wicket, while Shoaib Bashir his fifth of the innings. From there, it was always going to be a matter of time till England crumbled. And predictably so, the visitors were all out for 195 before tea as India registered an innings and 64-run victory to win the five-match series 4-1.
It all began when Ben Duckett faced R Ashwin in the second over. He was first beaten trying to sweep, then an inside edge almost carried to short-leg. Rattled, Duckett premeditatedly charged at Ashwin only to miss the line of the delivery. He did not even have to get back to the crease, just took the long walk back to the dressing room as Dhruv Jurel took off the bails.
Two overs later, Duckett’s opening partner Zak Crawley faced a similar fate at the hands of Ashwin. And as is has been the case through the series, Crawley got a good delivery, that turned from outside off, and took the inside edge as he was well on his front foot and Sarfaraz Khan did the rest. A rare failure for England’s best batter of the series.
Then there was Ollie Pope, whose series has gone downhill since that stellar second innings century in Hyderabad. Having charged at Kuldeep Yadav in the first innings, he tried not to move as much and remained in the crease. Pope even picked up a few boundaries, including one off a reverse sweep, but not long after, he had a brain fade. A straight, good length delivery from Ashwin outside off-stump — something he could have driven, cut, or even pulled to an extent — and Pope went down on a premeditated sweep. The ball took the top edge and landed in the hands of Yashasvi Jaiswal. England, on a pitch that had good bounce and decent turn, were three down with Ashwin already taking seven in the match.
Jonny Bairstow walked in, meaning business, knowing the only way to survive is to attack. And he went after everything that he could, smashed a few to the ropes, into the stands so much that Jasprit Bumrah, who was leading the side in Rohit Sharma’s absence as the latter did not take the field due to stiff back, brought Kuldeep Yadav from the end Ashwin was bowling. Instantly, Bairstow was caught on the backfoot, trapped on the pads. When the umpire’s fingers went up, he immediately reviewed as it seemed like the ball would have missed leg-stump. However, upon seeing the impact on the big screen, he did not even want to wait for Hawkeye, he knew what was coming — the umpire’s call. England captain Ben Stokes, who did not seem to have any clue against spinners, was once again outdone at the stroke of lunch by an Ashwin. Five down, half the side back in the dressing room, packing bags to go home.
Even as Dravid took a look at the surface — as he has at every single break through the series — during the break, this pitch had no demons. It was not turning square, nor was it uneven, and yet, England seemed clueless. They seemed to have mentally checked out and were in a hurry as if their flight was warming up for departure.
After lunch, Ashwin would go on to take his fifth, 36th five-wicket haul with only Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan above him, to send Ben Foakes back — a nine-wicket haul in his 100th Test. When it seemed like Tom Hartley and Joe Root were building a partnership, Bumrah brought himself on to take a double — which included a stunning yorker to Mark Wood. Root persisted, and with support from Shoaib Bashir even got to his fifty.
However, the ending was inevitable. Forget levelling the deficit, whether England could survive two sessions became a bigger question. Root plugged away runs and Bashir kept him company. India were not flustered, Bumrah brought on Ravindra Jadeja for his second spell, and tried Mohammed Siraj at the other end before bringing back Kuldeep again. And with about 25 minutes to go for tea, Ravindra Jadeja would eventually clean up Bashir. Root, nearing his hundred, would try to hit Kuldeep into the stands and it all came to an end as Bumrah completed the catch. Root out on 84 as India registered innings victory, another series win and comeback win since the defeat in Hyderabad.
Years down the line, the scoreline of 4-1 in India might not seem like much. Little will it tell the incredible story of a comeback after being 0-1, of the genius of Bumrah and Ashwin, the rise of Kuldeep, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shubman Gill, and how it might just go down as the series that sets India’s Test transition on course for the next decade.