Joe Root and his side were in advantage when they won the toss and decided to bat first. The Motera pitch was much better than the previous test and, it was also assisting the seamers.
But as the innings progressed, the England team started collapsing, with their batsmen failing to capitalize on the great opportunity.
The England team scored 205 runs in their first innings. As soon as the Indian team came out to bat, Rohit Sharma had his plans ready. His hard-fought innings of 49 gave the Indian team some hopes after their middle order failed to score runs. But their young keeper batsmen, Rishabh Pant had different ideas.
His century along with the brilliance of Washington Sundar’s 96 runs made sure, that England would suffer a lot in covering the 160-run deficit. In their second innings also, England faced a lot of issues against the spin bowling attack of India. Once again, the local boy Axar Patel, along with Ashwin, the man in form, bowled well to award their side a win by an innings and 25 runs.
A dominating 3-1 series victory was not something the England team would have expected after winning the first test match. However, their rotational policy and team selections were quite questionable throughout the whole series.
A series win also guaranteed the Indian team a spot in the final of the World Test Championship against New Zealand. The match will be played in Lords, later this year.
Some great performances were visible from the Indian dugout throughout the course of the series.
Axar Patel who was a debutant in the second test match, made test cricket look easy. R. Ashwin’s hard work in the lockdown paid well for him in recent months.
England on the other side will look forward to a rooster that supports their team in difficult situations like these. Their spin bowling attack might need some fresh names and certainly, their new selectors have a tough job to do.
