India win test series against England in Mumbai

India won the five-Test series 3-0 as they defeated England today in the fourth cricket Test by a innings and 36 runs margin.Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers with 6 wickets for 55 runs in the second innings as England were all out for 195 in 55.3 overs.

This is the first time in India that a visiting team could not win the Test match after scoring 400 runs in their first innings.R Ashwin claimed a wicket in each of his fresh overs on the day as England crashed to an embarrassing innings and 36-run defeat in the fourth Test here to hand India an unassailable 3-0 lead with a Test to go in Chennai in the five-match series for the Anthony De Mello Trophy. 

The win ended India’s three-series losing streak against England and helped them register their first win over them since their triumph in 2008 when Andrew Strauss and Co travelled this part of the world.

The spectators had barely settled down on their seats when the hosts applied finishing touches with Ashwin claiming all the wickets to fall on the day in a dramatic morning spell of 3.3-2-6-4 here at the Wankhede stadium. Ashwin’s second innings figures of 6/55 – his second five-for for the match and 24th overall -- gave him his seventh 10-wicket haul (12/167) in only his 43rd match, just one behind India’s record of eight by Anil Kumble who played 119 Tests. With this effort, Ashwin took his tally of wickets for the series to 27 from four Tests.

The win belonged as much to Ashwin as it did to Kohli, who won the man of the match award for his career best 235. Kohli has had a clear stamp on this series with 640 runs which, he said, was the perfect icing on the cake.

“There’s still a Test to go, so I cannot say if it’s the best performance yet or not, because I think I got a few more in



Australia, but we didn’t win the series,” he said when asked if it was his best batting show ever. “It’s already an icing on the cake. The series win was the ultimate goal. Obviously it feels very very nice. It feels sweeter knowing that the last three series, they’ve really outplayed us. And to understand that this is a totally transformed side that we have, and still have the belief to beat a world class Test team, being 3-0 up and one Test to go, for me as a captain and player it is very satisfying. It feels really good at the moment that I’ve been able to contribute in a series win more than probably what I would’ve thought of and things have panned very differently because the focus for us has only been to win the series,” he remarked.

While England’s chances of saving the match were next only to impossible, few expected such an abject surrender from the visitors. The procession started in the second fresh over of the day when Ashwin trapped overnight half-centurion Jonny Bairstow with a carrom ball. The leading run-getter in Tests this year reviewed the decision only for the TV umpire to uphold on-field official’s decision. Next to go was a clueless Chris Woakes who was beaten in flight by an off-spinning delivery to be bowled through the gate. Adil Rashid’s attempt to hit himself out of trouble only resulted in a simple catch to K L Rahul at mid-wicket.

An already pumped-up Indian group got even more fired up at the sight of last man James Anderson who on the previous night had made some uncharitable remarks about Virat Kohli’s batting. Expectedly, there were some words exchanged between Ashwin and Anderson before Ravindra Jadeja too had a go at the English paceman. For once, it was Kohli who was playing the peacemaker while umpires too tried to bring the tempers down.