India v England fourth Test report and scorecard: England crash to innings defeat and lose series

Scorecard: India v England fourth Test

England first innings: 205 all out (Stokes 55, Lawrence 46; A Patel 4-68); 135 all out (Lawrene 50; A Patel 5-48, R Ashwin 5-47)

India first innings: 365 all out (Pant 101, Sundar 96*, Sharma 49; Stokes 4-89)

Day three report

England’s punchdrunk batsmen crumbled one last time against spin as India wrapped up the fourth Test by an innings and 25 runs to seal a 3-1 series win and a place in the World Test Championship final.

Backed by the headwind of a 160-run first-innings lead, Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel continued their outright domination of a team who looked technically traumatised and mentally spent after being rounded up for 135 on day three.

The pair have had England under their spell ever since Joe Root led his side to victory in the series opener and ended by taking matching five-fors, taking their combined tally to 59 wickets at a slender average of just 12.83.

Losing to India in their own conditions is nothing to be ashamed of and has been the fate of every touring team since Sir Alastair Cook’s class of 2012, but the collective inability to muster a contest between bat and ball will sting.

Since racking up 578 on a flat pitch in Chennai they have not come close to 200 in their next seven attempts and have not managed a single fifty partnership. When the sides meet again it will be on English soil – where seam take over as the primary threat – with India now due to arrive early having booked their place against New Zealand in the five-day format’s first ever final.

Dan Lawrence’s well-worked 50 provided the only hint of optimism for the losing side, while the only thing really went against India was the frustration of seeing Washington Sundar stranded on 96 not out in the morning.

He had seemed dead set for a maiden Test hundred but watched on as England finished the innings with three wickets in five balls – a run out, followed by two hard-earned wickets for the tireless Ben Stokes.

By then India had added 69 chanceless runs, with a century stand for the eighth wicket serving as an awkward backdrop to England’s imminent troubles. England’s under-pressure spinner Dom Bess conceded 15 of those in just two overs at the start of the day as an attempt to reinforce his fading confidence saw him sustain further damage.

After Patel was run out at the non-striker’s end, Stokes gratefully wiped out Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Siraj with inswingers as Sundar looked on helplessly. That left England’s openers with a tricky three-over stint before the lunch break and, although they came through that unscathed, it did not take long for fresh wounds to open.

Ashwin was called into the attack at the start of the afternoon session and promptly took two in two balls, Zak Crawley nicking the straight one to slip and Jonny Bairstow turning an off-break to leg-slip.

The pair have plenty to reflect on in the post-mortem, Crawley making six single-figure scores in four Tests this winter and Bairstow sitting on a run of three ducks in four attempts since returning from a break.

Dom Sibley’s output has also nosedived since scoring 87 in his first knock of the series but his dismissal for just three was a freak occurrence. Sweeping Patel, he smashed the ball out of the middle but saw the ball crash into Shubman Gill’s pads at short-leg and loop to Pant.

At 30 for three, Root and Stokes had a mountain to climb. But, having top-scored with 55 on day one and then returned four for 89 in a gut-busting effort with the ball, Stokes had run dry. He managed just two before turning Patel round the corner to a gleeful Virat Kohli.

Root kept the scoreboard ticking along and Ollie Pope had the small satisfaction of a clean six off Ashwin, but both fell in the space of three deliveries as the rot continued. Pope’s eagerness to use his feet saw him stumped for 15 on the charge against Ashwin and Root was pinned lbw for 30, defending deep in crease to Patel.

Ben Foakes and Lawrence came close to England’s first half-century partnership since the first innings in Chennai but fell six short when the former’s stout defence was picked over by Patel. The left-armer sealed his five-wicket haul when Bess’ forgettable match ended with an under-edge, before passing over to his partner to do likewise. Ashwin took care of Jack Leach and finished things when Lawrence ended a bright stay with a wayward slash.

Having started their sub-continental campaign with back to back wins over Sri Lanka and surprise victory in Chennai, England must now pore over three heavy defeats before repairing for the white-ball series.

Day two report

Ben Stokes put in a Herculean shift in the heat of Ahmedabad but Rishabh Pant’s remarkable century and the folly of England’s imbalanced attack left India in full control after day two of the fourth Test.

Pant built to a brilliant 101 as he changed the complexion of the game, striking 13 boundaries and two sixes, with India’s closing 89 ahead on 294 for seven.

At tea it looked as though the unrelenting Stokes might have made the defining contribution, defying illness, stiffness and a muddled team selection to drag India back to 144 for five in response to his side’s modest 205 all out.

Flogging himself for 20 overs in near 40 degree heat he bounced out home captain Virat Kohli for a duck and removed in-form opener Rohit Sharma with a booming inswinger, holding down the fort for long, exhausting spells as the likes of Stuart Broad, Mark Wood and Olly Stone watched on from the sidelines.

But England had gambled on just three specialist bowlers, including one – Dom Bess – who turned up visibly shorn of confidence and unable to exert any control.

It was a costly decision, with Pant seizing the opportunity to cash in against an attack that was spreading itself painfully thin.

After taking the time to set himself carefully on the surface, he got his side to parity and then cut loose in the evening with an array of increasingly jaw-dropping shots.

In all likelihood it will go down as a match-winning innings, with his late assault on James Anderson – featuring a charge down the ground to his first delivery with the new ball and an impudent reverse paddle – destined to linger long in the memory.

With Washington Sundar making 60 not out, India took 141 from a chastening final session.

Things had been so different at the start of play, Anderson and Stokes locking down the scoreboard as England allowed just 16 runs in the first hour. Jack Leach applied the finishing touch to their work, going wicket-to-wicket at Cheteshwar Pujara, who played behind his front pad and fell lbw for 17.

Stokes, a peripheral presence with the ball in the first three Tests, had been moving through the gears after a change of ends and kicked up another notch when Kohli strode to the crease.

The pair were involved in a heated exchange during Stokes’ half-century on day one and it would have given him huge satisfaction to topple India’s premier batsman without score.

He hammered a short ball into the surface as it reared up and grazed the edge of an awkward defensive fend.

Anderson outclassed Ajinkya Rahane in the last over of the morning to leave the score 80 for four, but England waited another hour for the first success of the afternoon.

Bess was offered a seven-over spell but served up too many full-tosses and drag downs, doing little to dispel the notion that his confidence has taken a nosedive in recent weeks.

He finished wicketless for 56 and was probably flattered by that.

Stokes rejoined the fray and took just six balls to end Rohit’s handy innings of 49. Having held back the inswinger, he got his first attempt to veer in dramatically, bemusing the batsman and persuading the umpire to award a close lbw.

His aggression helped England grab another before tea, unnerving Ravichandran Ashwin with blows on the glove and shoulder before Leach had him softly caught at short mid-wicket.

England lost their way entirely in the final session, unable to shut down Pant, who had measured his run astutely. There was nothing flashy about his first 50 runs, but he and Sundar were moving a thinned out bowling unit into position.

With Bess struggling, Stokes flagging and Joe Root bowling more than he would have liked, they ticked off the 200 then moved into the lead and finally found themselves up against the second new ball.

England had invested all their hopes in the fresh SG ball but watched in despair as Pant ran at Anderson’s first delivery with it and cracked it hard and flat for four.

He slapped another boundary off the next, then joined his partner in milking 12 from Stokes, who was badly served by his eventual figures of two for 73.

Pant was not done yet, switching his grip and flipping Anderson over the wicketkeeper’s head to leave the 38-year-old shaking his head in disbelief. His hundred came in style, swatting Root for six over midwicket.

His celebrations were barely complete when he dragged the impressive Anderson to midwicket, giving the seamer his third wicket, having wholly altered the match situation.

Day one report

After two heavy defeats on rampant turners, England could only blame themselves as they surrendered the initiative with another muddled batting performance on day one of the fourth Test against India.

The tourists were dismissed for 205 – their best score since the first innings of the first Test but well below a par effort – before India reached 24 for one in response in the series decider.

Much of the time since last week’s two-day defeat at the same ground in Ahmedabad has been filled with debate around the state of the pitch, but there was nothing untoward from this surface.

Instead England must look to fine, persistent bowling and more human error at the crease.

Good fortune appeared to be with them when Joe Root won the toss in what were likely to be the best run-making conditions of the match, not least because they had sprung a major surprise with their team selection.

While the return of Dom Bess as second spinner had been telegraphed by the admission that they had misread conditions in the previous match, the decision to add Dan Lawrence as a specialist batsman at number seven was an entirely riskier – albeit more creative – response to being 2-1 down.

It left 38-year-old James Anderson as a lone frontline seamer and he would have loved to spend all three sessions with his feet up. From the moment Root’s dismissal left England 30 for three, that looked a forlorn hope.

There were pockets of resistance. Ben Stokes top-scored with 55 in an innings that balanced control with tantalising flashes of power, in defiance of an upset stomach, and Lawrence partially justified his recall in an unexpected role with 46.

But for the most part it was a familiar story of misjudged shots, lbws and wasted opportunities. When Jack Leach was last man out in the 76th over, England’s best chance of setting up the game went with him.

In the end eight of the 10 wickets fell to spin as two familiar foes, Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel, continued to poke holes in their opponents’ technique.

The new ball swung and seamed but it took Virat Kohli just five overs to call for Patel, who continued his revelatory maiden series by seeing off Dom Sibley for two with his second delivery.

It was his favoured arm ball that did the work, skidding off the inside edge and through a yawning gap to hit middle.

Zak Crawley had settled on a more aggressive approach but could not make it work, charging the first ball of Patel’s next over and hoisting a high catch to mid-off. The questions Patel was asking were well known but the answers remained elusive.

Mohammed Siraj did well to leverage some handy movement off the seam, rapping Root on the back foot with the first ball after drinks to turn a worrying start for England into a troubling one.

Jonny Bairstow and Stokes proceeded to emerge from a sticky start, a couple of false shots, to pepper the boundary ropes.

India’s lengths suffered as the pair settled and when Stokes greeted his nemesis, Aswhin, by launching him for six down the ground it seemed a big statement before lunch.

But Siraj ended the partnership on 48, jagging one in to Bairstow’s pads to strike shortly after the restart.

Stokes had been involved in a terse exchange with Kohli early in his stay and it seemed to have had the desired effect.

A second six off Washington Sundar and a reverse sweep for four carried him to his half-century and left the bowler seeking revenge. He got it when he skidded one through from round the wicket, trapping a static Stokes in front of leg stump.

England needed their reinforced middle order to rescue them and though there was grit from Ollie Pope (29 from 87 balls) and some plucky hitting from Lawrence, who helped himself to eight boundaries, it was not enough to rescue things.

Pope was caught via a fluke flick off the back pad and Lawrence was stumped as he looked for a flashy route to 50.

The spinners finished off the tail unfussily, leaving Patel with four for 68 and Ashwin three for 47 at the change of innings.

With a throng of seamers on drinks duty, England badly needed a strong show from Anderson.

He obliged with minimal delay, setting up Shubman Gill with two away swingers then picking him up lbw when he went for the stumps.

Stokes took on new-ball duties and there was a brief look at Bess and Leach but there were no further mis-steps for India as Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara kept them on top at stumps.