India suffer innings defeat at Old Trafford
The Indian batting crumbled against the gentle spin of Moeen Ali as England won the fourth Test by an innings and 54 runs inside three days at the Old Trafford on Saturday, leading the series 2-1. India’s second innings lasted 43 overs before being bundled out for 161 runs against an England attack that was one man down in pacer Stuart Broad, who was taken to hospital after a short-pitched delivery from Varun Aaron broke his nose.
Ali picked up four for 39 while pacers James Anderson and Chris Jordan got two wickets each.
Earlier in the day, England were bowled out for 367 runs in the first innings and opened up a huge lead of 215 runs.
India, skittled out for 152 runs in the first innings, were 33 for one at tea.
India’s task of saving the Test got even tougher when they lost opener Murali Vijay (18) early on in their second innings. After play resumed, India’s batting collapsed like a pack of cards with five wickets going for just 13 runs.
Gautam Gambhir (18), Cheteshwar Pujara (17), Ajinkya Rahane (1), Virat Kohli (7) and Ravindra Jadeja (4) all fell in a space of five overs as India slumped from 53 for one to 66 for six.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (27) tried to delay the inevitable and along with Ravichandran Ashwin (46 not out) helped India get past the 100-run mark.
Dhoni became Ali’s fourth victim as he tried to hit him out but could only drag to Gary Ballance at mid-wicket. Ashwin watched wickets tumbling.
Earlier in the day, riding on a 134-run seventh wicket partnership between Joe Root (77) and Jos Buttler (70), England reached 367 for nine.
After the English pair was dismissed just before lunch, 42 more runs were added.
Chris Broad and Chris Woakes (26 not out) tried to take on the Indian bowling to get runs quickly.
After smacking two consecutive sixes of Varun Aaron, Broad was left bleeding when the Indian pacer’s short pitched ball crept inside the helmet. The English fast bowler had to be taken to hospital.
Woakes combined with James Anderson (9) to string together a 29-run stand for the ninth wicket.
Earlier, England consolidated their grip over the match, reaching 325 for eight at lunch.
After heavy rain had halted England’s progress on day two, the hosts resumed on 237 for six and went about reinforcing their position in the Test.
England scored 88 runs off 26 overs in the session, averaging a little more than three runs per over. Root and Buttler played without very many faults as the Indian pacers once again looked short on ideas.
With nine overs remaining for the new ball, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni opted to start the day with Pankaj Singh and Ravindra Jadeja.
Root and Buttler were well settled by the time the red cherry was in the hands of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Barring a close lbw shout, the English batsmen easily negotiated the new ball.
Varun Aaron, who has had made a positive impact in the match taking three wickets, also failed to inspire his team.
The English duo added 67 runs in the morning session before Root became Pankaj Singh’s first Test victim.
It wasn’t the best of deliveries from the Indian pacer who took 69.2 overs to take his first wicket in Test cricket.
Pankaj Singh, who went wicketless in his debut Test at The Rose Bowl, got a short ball to nip back in. Root could have easily left the ball alone but managed to get a feather touch down the leg side, giving an easy catch to Dhoni behind the stumps.
It seemed that the hosts would go into the lunch break with just the one casualty but a slower delivery in the final over of the session from Pankaj Singh removed the dangerous Buttler to finally give some hope to the visitors.