Bazball blown away India win 4 – 1
After the win in Hyderabad Ben Stokes and his team made everyone believe that Bazball would work in India but after the setback in Hyderabad team India bounced back and won the remaining matches one-sided never giving the visitors any chance. The 5th and final test was played at the iconic venue of Dharamshala and lasted only 3 days with team India winning it by Innings and 64 runs. After winning the toss England decided to bat first and only managed 218 runs. The duo of Ashwin and Kuldeep took 9 wickets.
India in their 1st Innings scored a handsome total of 477 with skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill scoring 110 & 103. Debutant Padikal also scored a fine 65 in his debut innings whereas Sarfaraz also scored 56 runs which helped India gain a lead of 259 runs which seemed a tough task for England.
In the 2nd Inning England got bowled out for just 195 runs. Joe Root showed some resistance by scoring 84 runs. R Ashwin was again the stand-out bowler picking up 5 wickets and helping India win the test match by Innings and 64 runs in just 3 days. Kuldeep Yadav was picked as the Man of the match whereas Yashasvi Jaiswal was adjourned as player of the series.
Image Courtesy – The Quint
This series has suddenly started questioning England’s Bazball approach in test cricket whereas it has provided the Indian team with some solid options for the coming future.
A Solid Opener – Team India has got a solid opener in the form of Yashasvi Jaiswal who is an attacking Left-Hander batter who knows how to dominate and shift gears during his Innings. Jaiswal scored 712 runs in the series which is the most against England in a bilateral series. He surpassed Virat Kohli in this record.
Attacking Middle Order Batter – India also got an option of an attacking Middle-order batter Sarfaraz Khan. Sarfaraz whose debut made a lot of news because of the runs he made in the domestic circuit. Sarfaraz has proved his ability to score runs and score quickly. The kind of batter Sarfaraz is he can prove very handy alongside Rishabh Pant when he comes back as both have the same nature of the game.
Another Wicketkeeping Option – Dhruv Jurel whose selection was questioned by many at the start of the series proved his metal and showed his class. His 90 runs knock in the 4th test became the turning point of the game and Jurel again scored 39* in the 2nd Inning helping India to a win. With KS Bharat failing to deliver Jurel has surely made himself a favorite in the absence of Pant.
This series will surely be remembered for these 3 youngsters apart from this series also got some more famous memories.
- James Anderson became the 3rd bowler to take 700 wickets in test matches after Murlidharan and Shane Warne.
- R Ashwin also reached 500 wickets in this series.
