Ravindra Jadeja could do no wrong on the fifth and final day at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai as India registered their ninth Test win of the year, also extending their unbeaten streak to a team record of 18. England’s batsmen gift-wrapped wickets before heading for their Christmas break, losing all 10 in just two sessions and collapsing to a defeat by an innings and 75 runs, on Tuesday (December 20).
The last day began with just one team having a realistic chance of winning the game. England were trailing by another 270 but had all 10 wickets in hand. India had a minimum of 90 overs to get the wickets they needed to make the scoreline 4-0. The pitch though, that saw a triple hundred being scored on day 4, wasn’t deteriorating enough for the batsmen to be worried. What England would have been wary of was the pressure of the last day, the last day of a long, five-Test series when they were already, probably, thinking of the flight back home. None of that though showed in the first session where the under-pressure Alastair Cook and youngster Keaton Jennings batted through with steadfast determination.
India did create chances – Cook was dropped early in the day by Parthiv Patel off Ravichandaran Ashwin and Jennings was put down by Lokesh Rahul, at short leg, off Amit Mishra – and a few edges didn’t go to hand but it was England’s session through and through as they went into Lunch at 97 without loss.
Both batsmen were nearing their fifties by the break and it would have done the captain a world of good, with questions increasing on his position in the team. But when he was one short of it, Cook was taken out yet again by Jadeja. Through the series, Cook has had problems with saving his pads against Jadeja’s quick turn in. Today he missed a similar one but Jadeja couldn’t get him, even with DRS, with the ball-tracker reckoning that it was missing leg. Soon after though, with a delivery that was going further way down the legside, Jadeja had Cook caught at leg slip thanks to a sharp catch by Rahul. An innocuous ball to signal a sorry tour overall for the England captain.
England still had a minimum of 55.2 overs to bat out when their captain departed but this was to be the beginning of the Jadeja magic. Jennings, at the other end, looked more in control and got to his second fifty-plus score in Tests but couldn’t take it forward. It was Jadeja once again, who gave India a breakthrough, drawing Jennings but doing him over with the length to take a simple return catch.
By now, India were still chasing an outside chance for victory, but were buoyed by two quick wickets. Moeen Ali, whose short-ball woes were exposed despite a fine 146 in the first innings, was targeted at will by Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma. But the wickets kept falling at the other end and it was Jadeja at the forefront once again. First he had Joe Root LBW on the sweep, with the help of DRS. India were reluctant to take it first but once again Virat Kohli went on the side of hope. Replays confirmed that Root was struck very full, with no edge, and with the ball going on to hit the stumps cleanly.Jadeja had his third, and possibly, the biggest wicket of the innings.
The session got better when Ishant, producing an energetic spell in the Chennai heat, got Jonny Bairstow hopping first with good short balls and then had him get a big leading edge over mid-wicket. Jadeja was in the thick of the action once again, sprinting back to take a stunning catch that gave India their fourth wicket of the session. England had lost four men in the space of 26 runs and their target of batting out 42.4 overs more still seemed a fair bit away. By now India were sensing a chance to go for the kill.
Ashwin was leading the crowd on with claps as Kohli rotated his fast bowlers from one end, an end from which the bouncers were getting more purchase. But despite a couple of edges both Moeen and Ben Stokes managed to take England to Tea with six wickets still in hand. England needed these two to see off a major part of the last session as well with the jitters now creeping in.
From there on, it couldn’t have gone any more wrong for England and any better for Jadeja. He first had Moeen, dancing down the track, deceived in length and spooning a simple catch to mid-on. Stokes was got with the dip in his very next over, getting an inside edge to short mid-wicket. At 193 for 6, England were already on a rapid spiral down.
It got only worse as Mishra joined the act, spinning a googly through Liam Dawson’s defence. By now, the sizable crowd was getting behind the bowler for every ball, and reacting with gasps of dismay when the batsmen were middling it. India too were expecting a wicket every ball. In a bid for more, Kohli brought in Umesh Yadav who was also given the new ball mid-over. The first delivery with new cherry struck gold as Adil Rashid got a leading edge to cover where, who else but Jadeja, again, took a sitter. India’s quick over-rate now allowed them to possibly bowl more overs than specified before close of play to get the two remaining wickets. But they had their go-to man once again wrapping it up in quick time. Jadeja picked up the last two wickets in the space of four balls finishing with his career-best 7 for 48.
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