India v England: Ravichandran Ashwin spins hosts to huge victory inside three days

England 218 (Crawley 79; Kuldeep 5-72, Ashwin 4-51) & 195 (Root 84; Ashwin 5-77)
India 474: (Gill 110, Rohit 103, Padikkal 65, Jaiswal 57, Sarfaraz 56; Bashir 5-173)
India won by an innings and 64 runs, won series 4-1
Scorecard

England’s tour of India ended in woeful fashion as some spineless top-order batting resulted in a massive defeat inside three days in the fifth Test in Dharamsala.

That margin would have been even larger had it not been for Joe Root’s 84. England were 113-6 only for Root to coax runs from the tail when the contest was effectively over.

The inept batting overshadowed the early morning achievement of James Anderson, who had Kuldeep Yadav caught behind to become the first pace bowler to reach 700 Test wickets.

With Shoaib Bashir completing his second five-wicket haul of the series, India were bowled out for 477. In blameless conditions, England’s minimum requirement was to drag the match into a fourth day.

Instead they folded to off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who marked his 100th Test with a mesmerising 5-77.

Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope played horrendous strokes, Zak Crawley turned to leg slip, Ben Stokes’ defence was flimsy and Ben Foakes was bowled slogging. In between, Jonny Bairstow belted 39 off 31 balls before he was pinned by Kuldeep.

At least Root showed some stomach for the fight, but could not prevent a one-sided drubbing inside eight sessions of play.

While this is England’s first series defeat under Stokes, this loss is their seventh in 12 Tests and ends a poor winter across formats that also included a meek defence of the 50-over World Cup.

A quite different England team will turn attention to defending the T20 World Cup in June, with the next Test coming against West Indies at Lord’s in July.

England unravel to dismal defeat

This series promised so much for England after they pulled off a sensational win in the first Test in Hyderabad, but has gradually unravelled to this, by far their worst performance of the tour.

India is an incredibly difficult place for visiting teams. This is their 17th successive home win, a run that stretches back to 2012. At the beginning of the series, a 4-1 win for the hosts would have felt around par.

The disappointment for England comes from the chances they squandered in each of the second, third and fourth Tests. Like last summer’s drawn Ashes, England’s return could have been better.

There is some mitigation. Harry Brook missed the whole series and Jack Leach played only one Test. England will talk of progress and the emergence of young spinners Bashir and Tom Hartley is a positive.

But England’s batting has gradually disintegrated to this final horror show. There are decisions to make over the futures of Bairstow and Foakes, and the pace bowling will need reinforcing for the home summer.

England are midway through what is likely to a four-year spell under captain Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum. While their commitment to play entertaining cricket is laudable, it is now time to blend that with consistent results.

Awful batting overshadows Anderson milestone

Anderson, 41, is a great of English cricket and British sport. His inch towards 700 wickets has been painstaking over the past year, but the milestone was achieved at a picture-perfect setting, with the sun glinting off the snow-capped Himalayan mountains.

Kuldeep prodded an edge, wicketkeeper Foakes took the catch and Anderson celebrated by waving the ball to the crowd. After Bashir had Jasprit Bumrah stumped by Foakes’ sharp hands, England had the opportunity to end the tour with a positive batting showing.

Instead, they imploded in an ill-judged attempt at aggression. Duckett and Pope have had their games picked apart, resulting in Duckett charging Ashwin’s fifth ball to be bowled and Pope top-edging a rash sweep. In between Crawley gave leg slip catching practice.

Bairstow, in his 100th Test, hit Ashwin for three sixes only to be undone by Kuldeep’s sharp turn. Stokes’ batting struggles continued when Ashwin went straight through him, while Foakes was bowled trying an uncharacteristic slog sweep for Ashwin’s fifth.

Root dug in, with a trust in defence his team-mates were lacking. His disappointing tour – Root had passed 50 only once before this – ended with the former captain giving England a lesson in patience, shot-selection and adaptability.

He eked 28 runs out of a partnership with Hartley and added another 48 with the determined Bashir. Root was on 78 when he was joined by last-man Anderson, eventually holing out to Kuldeep as he hunted a century.

India end with dominant display

If England can point to the players they have been without, India have ultimately dominated this series without all of Virat Kohli, Mohammed Shami and Rishabh Pant. KL Rahul played only the first Test and missed the rest of the series with an injury.

Batters Yashasvi Jasiwal, Shubman Gill and Sarfaraz Khan, and wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel have all emerged. Even on the final day, captain Rohit Sharma was off the field with a back injury, leaving Bumrah to take charge.

If the batting has a fresh feel, it is ultimately India’s experienced and skilful bowlers that have gradually picked England apart. Earlier in the series it was Bumrah’s reverse-swing, here it was Kuldeep’s five-wicket haul in the first innings and the masterful Ashwin in the second.

Taking the new ball, Ashwin ran riot for his 36th five-wicket haul in Tests – a record for an Indian bowler. He preyed on the fragilities in the techniques of Duckett and Pope, and laid a trap for Crawley. Ashwin has dismissed Stokes more times than any other bowler in Tests and bowled the captain on the stroke of lunch to effectively end any notion of India batting again.

Bumrah had Hartley palpably lbw for 20, India’s 17th wicket of the match but the first not taken by a spinner. In the same over, Mark Wood was leg before to a toe-crushing yorker to complete a pair.

India were frustrated by Bashir until Ravindra Jadeja got one to scuttle through, then Root’s attempt to loft down the ground ended the match before tea on day three.