Right then, that’s that - again. India have played another brilliant Test, Ashwin and Kohli in particular but Vijay and Jayant too. India are developing into a brilliant side with brilliant attitude and a brilliant attitude, which is brilliant for cricket; enjoy them!
I wonder about his one below; it’s certainly true in some ways, but fatigue plays a part too. I’d expect them to have learnt for next time, even it doesn’t manifest in Chennai. But the point also ties in with what Kohli said about method.
Most depresisng thing for England: they've got worse with every Test in India. No real signs of any improvement
— Tim (@timwig_cricket) December 12, 2016
Ashwin: application difference between the sides. They have hardly blocked 6 balls in a row. Eng don't have faith in way go about business
— Simon Wilde (@swildecricket) December 12, 2016
It was Kohli, but the point remains.
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Hope this series does something to get rid of some of the toss myths that float around. England have won 3 out 4 and are 3-0. Best team wins
— Peter Miller (@TheCricketGeek) December 12, 2016
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Ah, a quick stop-press: Ian Ward asks Alastair Cook about staying on as captain. He says he is, but references a post-series debrief and isn’t emphatic, shall we say.
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India have worked very hard on their defence, says Kohli, and because England weren’t as confident, they were looking to dominate to accumulate quickly. So, plug the boundaries and wait. “We get a couple of wickets and it’s going to crumble down pretty quickly,” is his damning conclusion, kicking his opponents while they’re down.
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Kohli is running out of words to describe Ashwin, who he credits with 60% of his team’s success. He knows his bowling and his batting and any team would love to have him.
It was a test of patience on this wicket, and because England had a spinner less, the two they did have got injured, and the quicks lost confidence on account of not being picked, which India sensed and went after them hard.
“The series win is probably the sweetest of all that we’ve won in the last 14, 15 months,” says Kohli.
Virat says that during the lap of honour, he said to Ashwin that last time England were in India, they effectively lost the series at the Wankhede. They knew the match was over when they got such a monumental first innings lead, but he was slightly concerned when England got to 400 in their first innings.
England batted better in this game than in any other on tour, Virat is having a series that you dream of, as a player and captain, clearly one of the best of the generation and very hard to bowl at in these conditions. He can’t help but come back to the missed chances, and is disappointed as 195 is, in a theory, a decent third innings total.
He’s asked about the extra seamer and says that it’s a problem of not having games between Tests to see how four seamers looks. He also says that it’s the seamers who’ve given England control, and perhaps bowling first, four seamers would’ve helped. But England “haven’t had enough to get over line”; er, they haven’t had enough to get near the line.
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He thought 400 was a good score, though perhaps should’ve been 450, and laments missed chances at 300-6 in general, specifically those which reprieved Virat and Jayant. He congratulates India and says England haven’t been good enough to match them.
“Alastair, this must have been a frustrating game for you...”
Ravi Ashwin is man of the match, for his silly bowling.
“The difference between these two sides is immeasurable,” reckons Nick Knight. Er, roughly about an innings and 36 runs, I’d guesstimate.
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“That’s a defeat by an innings and 36 runs, after England won the toss, batted first and scored 400 runs,” reminds Nabakrishna Hazarika.
Thanks, Nabakrishna Hazarika!
Both Ashwin and Murali Vijay are looking forward to Chennai. More news as I get it.
Last time England were here, India collapsed mentally, says Ashwin. He had to wait for a surface with bounce to exhibit his topspinner, as otherwise it sits there and can be hit.
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“In the four Test matches we have played we have lost three tosses,” says Anil Kumble, praising Jayant’s knock. It’s pointed out to him that Ashwin now has five variations - the offy, the side-spinner, the floater, the carrom ball and the top-spinner, and he says that yerman is always working, expected the carrom to be useful today, and most important is the celver set-up work. This could be India’s greatest-ever Test side, he concludes.
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India are enjoying themselves a lap of honour.
Ashwin’s figures of 12-167 are the best ever taken by a spinner at the Wankhede. He is so, so good, but, equally significantly and as a symbol of this Indian side, looks primed to improve too.
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This is an absolute caning of a pasting of a humiliation for England, a kicking for the ages. They won a great toss, thought they’d struggled to a fair total on a raging bunsen, saw India stroll past it as they toiled, then crumbled in memorable, classical, typical - but always unique style. This morning’s behaviour was supine in the extreme.
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Ashwin took 4-6 in four overs this morning. A fair effort.
WICKET! Anderson c Umesh Yadav b Ashwin 2 (England 195 all out) INDIA WIN BY AN INNINGS AND 36 RUNS! INDIA WIN THE SERIES WITH AN UNASSAILABLE 3-0 LEAD!
Anderson flicks to mid on.
55th over England 195-9 (Buttler 6, Anderson 2) Needle out in the middle, Kohli jawing at Anderson, others joining in, and Marais Erasmus calming them down. Oh, India are enjoying this, and why wouldn’t they? In comes Jadeja and naturally, Anderson unfurls the reverse-sweep but doesn’t get enough of it - there’s a muted appeal - so he glances the next ball to the leg side and they run a single. Buttler then tries the reverse and loops it up, just over the men behind the wicket.
54th over England 194-9 (Buttler 6, Anderson 1) England! Ashwin!
WICKET! Rashid c KL Rahul b Ashwin 2 (England 193-9)
Another fifer for Ashwin! Another collapse for England! Rashid has had enough of playing the patience game, so flicks one straight to midwicket. Risible, hilarious, tragic and pathetic all mixed.
54th over England 193-8 (Buttler 6, Rashid 2) Ashwin has been bowling top-spinners this morning, Kumble-style - or, put another way, he can get a lot, lot better!
WICKET(S)! England lose Bairstow (51) & Woakes (0) early, both falling to Ashwin. Eng 189-8, trail by 42: https://t.co/Hr605ZjzyV #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/NgzZYrsXvm
— Sky Sports Cricket🏏 (@SkyCricket) December 12, 2016
How R Ashwin worked on his action to become India's premier match-winner
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) December 12, 2016
More in this @cricketmonthly piece: https://t.co/UDrxYdGCXG pic.twitter.com/mZuT9u3ijO
53rd over England 191-8 (Buttler 5, Rashid 1) Jadeja is a very useful bowler and almost takes a cee and bee when Rashid drives just past him, but really we’re just waiting for more Ashwin; he’s been perfect this morning, even by his standards. Two from the over.
52nd over England 189-8 (Buttler 4, Rashid 0) England need 42 to avoid an innings defeat.
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WICKET! Woakes b Ashwin 0 (England 189-8)
Oh woe is Woakes. Ashwin tosses one up outside off, and as is only natural for a tailender on 0 against a bowler so fearsomely grooved, Woakes tries an expansive drive against the spin. Mystifyingly, he misses and is bowled through the gate in classic off-spinner style. Toodleo and ten in the match for Ashwin.
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52nd over England 189-7 (Buttler 3, Woakes 0) Buttler charges and Ashwin sees him coming so sends down another carrom - somehow, Buttler backhands for two, then gets another single.
51st over England 186-7 (Buttler 1, Woakes 0) Jadeja rushes through another over, with Buttler getting off the mark to backaward square.
50th over England 185-7 (Buttler 0, Woakes 0) In commentary, they reckon Bairstow should’ve spotted the carrom, but he couldn’t have guessed how much it’d turn. Anyway, England are in a spot here.
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REVIEW! WAS IT GOING DOWN! NO IT WASN'T! Bairstow lbw b Ashwin 51 (England 185-7)
Ashwin has been so, so good this morning Test series lifetime. Carrom ball again, pitching on the seam, and Bairstow doesn’t get close to picking it, forced backwards and unable to get out of the way.
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50th over England 185-6 (Bairstow 51, Buttler 0) Bairstow’s beaten again, this time by Ashwin, who pitches outside off. But he manages to get his hands out of the road, only to be diddled again by a carrom ball aimed at leg stump; it yields two byes. Next, a very confident appeal for a catch behind; no bat in that; but then another, Bairstow squared on the back foot! AND THIS TIME IT’S GIVEN OUT!
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49th over England 183-6 (Bairstow 51, Buttler 0) Here comes Jadeja from the other end, twizzling the ball in his fingers, and shouts loudly when his second delivery thwacks Bairstow’s pad. But it pitched outside leg, so when the umpire says no, that’s the end of the matter - India are straight out of reviews. Jadeja, though, keeps at it, screaming one past the bat at Bairstow goes back; a single follows.
48th over England 182-6 (Bairstow 50, Buttler 0) Buttler defends Ashwin’s first ball, plays late as the second turns well past the bat, and defends the third. Wicket maiden.
Ashwin will finish his over from last evening.
The horns are blaring as Buttler takes guard; can England make it to lunch?
Athers reckons it’s a good thing that Ball went last night, so Buttler can play himself in on a fresher surface.
Here come the fielding side!
Exactly.
Remember Galle Aug 2015
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) December 12, 2016
India ahead by 192 runs, Sri Lanka 95/5 in the 2nd inngs, still beat India by 63 runs!#justsaying#IndvEng
Yurrrrrrrrrrssss! Yassssssss! We get a “last evening” from Athers, discussing the dismissal of Jake Ball. On which topic, England bat a long way down, but in this series it’s India who’ve scored runs all the way down.
Time for @MichaelVaughan's final pitch report of the tour... And he's got some locals with him! pic.twitter.com/qGjA92TpKW
— Test Match Special (@bbctms) December 12, 2016
They’re not going to be saved by the rain. The Wankhede looks absolutely beautiful this morning.
Athers doesn’t think that England can do it.
109: number of seconds it took Sky to mention Botham at Headingley.
“Does Jimmy, with this ill-timed wisdom (on deficiencies in Kohli’s technique), win the ‘Most Outrageous Comment of the Series’ award, pipping puny Parthiv?” asks Anand Viswanathan “(not the chess guy)”.
On which point, check out the devastation here:
And these were the aforementioned comments:
“I’m not sure he’s changed. I just think any technical deficiencies he’s got aren’t in play out here. The wickets just take that out of the equation.
“We had success against him in England, but the pace of the pitches over here just take any flaws he has out of the equation. There’s not that pace in the wicket to get the nicks, like we did against him in England with a bit more movement. Pitches like this suit him down to the ground.
“When that’s not there, he’s very much suited to playing in these conditions. He’s a very good player of spin and if you’re not bang on the money and don’t take your chances, he’ll punish you. We tried to stay patient against him, but he just waits and waits and waits. He just played really well.”
It’s tricky, this: Anderson clearly wants to answer the question honestly, and probably knows that so doing made him look a bit silly. He is at once biased and an authority, able to be both right and wrong. I guess we’ll see the summer after next.
“Not sure if this is mathematics of any sort but if England (Buttler) bat all day then his double hundred saves English pride,” emails Ian Copestake. “The only source of English joy is indeed to see something of Buttler from the start without any expectation that he can do anything other than get out soon or be miraculous.”
We’ve not seen much miraculosity from Buttler with the “red ball”. But he is capable...
Of course, it is also possible that Jonathan Bairstow and Joseph Buttler bat long enough to earn England a draw and accordant series defeat; they may also bat long enough to set India a target, which they are bowled out trying to reach. I am bound to detail these eventualities; I am not unwell.
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Preamble
Does anyone know what board mathematics is? I remember being told as a kid that somehow, it made simple sums not add up to what they do in normal mathematics; this may, of course, be nonsense.
But even if England had board mathematics in their favour, it’s unlikely they’d be able to contrive an equation that leads to anything but a hammering off this team in the conditions. It’s true that they could have won the toss in Vizag and Stuart Broad might not have got injured, likewise, they might have balanced their attack and XI better. But, more likely than not, they’d still be behind.
This is a good India side that might just become something better than that. They have as imposing a personality as cricket has seen in recent times, they know what to do, and they’re going to do it again today, taking an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series. They’ve earned it.
Daniel will be here shortly. In the meantime, why not relive yesterday’s action with Vic Marks’ report, which begins with the words “The end is nigh”?
