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On Saturday, March 9, India defeated England by an innings and 64 runs to win the fifth and final Test at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala to retain the Anthony de Mello Trophy 4-1. Ravichandran Ashwin was the star of the show for India in his 100th Test match, picking up nine wickets in the match against a hapless England batting lineup.
For the unversed, the England captain, Ben Stokes, won the toss on a very good batting pitch and decided to bat first. Although the opening pair of Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett gave a good start to the visitors, stitching together a 64-run stand for the first wicket, the performance of the rest of their batting lineup left a lot to be desired.
Kuldeep Yadav broke the back of the English batting lineup in the first innings, picking up a five-wicket haul, while Ravichandran Ashwin chipped away with four wickets to help bowl them out for a below par total of 218.
In response, the top five batters in the Indian lineup got fifty plus scores, including the hundreds from the captain Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, who shared a 171-run stand for the second wicket. Meanwhile, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, and the debutant Devdutt Padikkal also scored fifties, which ensured that India reached a massive total of 477 in their first innings.
The start of the second innings for England was poor as both their openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett fell to Ravichandran Ashwin in quick succession. While Joe Root kept the fight going for the visitors from one end, the wickets kept falling from the other end.
Ultimately, it was Joe Root, who got holed out while trying to loft Kuldeep Yadav over the boundary rope, only to find Jasprit Bumrah at long-on region. With that, England were bundled out for 198 runs in their second innings within two sessions to concede defeat in the Test match to India.
