The stench of defeat has become second nature to India and when a poster was held aloft in one of the stands, with the words “give them another innings Cooky” scribbled on it, the humiliation was complete.
Shane Warne cryptically said: “Even four innings may not be enough.” Such was the depths that Indian batting plunged to at the Oval here on Sunday.
M.S. Dhoni’s men lost their third match in a row and as India slid to an innings and 244-run defeat against the host in the fifth and final Test, a series that began well for the visitor, was squandered away with England winning it 3-1.
After the host posted 486 in its first innings — a lead of 338 — India faithfully repeated its bizarre template of losing the top-half cheaply and once that happens, there is only one way a team is headed — a soul-crushing defeat; it managed to score only 94.
For some old Indian fans at the Oval, the only relief was to perhaps think about Sunil Gavaskar’s 221 here in 1979, an effort spread over 443 balls and 490 minutes, which almost got India close to a win. Achingly for them, none from the present team showed that will to last long.
Weather turns damp
Despair hung over the visitor’s second innings right from the moment Murali Vijay and Gautam Gambhir strode out together. If the openers felt that even the cricketing gods were favouring Alastair Cook’s men, they wouldn’t have been blamed. The weather turned damp, the conditions were distinctly overcast and two of the finest exponents of swing and seam bowling — James Anderson and Stuart Broad — had a tailor-made arena to showcase their wares.
It was Vijay, who left first. Anderson kept pegging away on the off-stump with the ball seaming away and then unleashed the in-swinger that rapped the opener’s pad in line.
It kept getting worse as Gambhir, twitchy at the crease, set off for a non-existent single after nudging Anderson to short mid-wicket. Chris Woakes threw down the stumps and as a stunned Gambhir began his retreat, the skies opened up and an early lunch was taken with India wobbling at nine for two.
After the break and with the sun back out, Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli got together. The pre-series favourites have been below-par and this was their last shot at living up to the respect they still get in the game’s birthplace.
When Pujara flicked Anderson and cut Broad, there were those stirrings of hope but as always in this series, optimism was shredded once Anderson’s off-stump line proved to be a fatal attraction.
Struggling for rhythm
Pujara departed and the dream bandwagon was hitched to Kohli. He struggled for batting rhythm but battled on and when he wristed Woakes for four, there was relief. And when the same bowler failed to hold on to a low catch on his follow-through, Kohli then on 19, may have thought that his stars were favourably aligned.
It was not to be. May be that four against Woakes was to blame because perhaps emboldened by that across-the-line stroke, Kohli tried to force Chris Jordan (four for 18) towards mid-on and the edge flew to Cook at first-slip. Dhoni fell for a duck and India (46 for five) was hurtling down a dark alley.
In the morning, the only thing that paused in England was perhaps the underground metro service which was halted at Kennington and fans, heading towards the Oval station and then to the ground, had to walk a bit.
Resuming at the overnight 385 for seven, the host set a breathless pace. A 101 runs were hammered in 11.3 overs while three wickets were lost.
A sizeable part of England’s runs were struck by Joe Root (149 n.o., 165b, 18x4, 1x6), who raced to his fifth Test century and also relished that moment on 110 when Ishant Sharma bowled him off a no-ball. In effect, it was another reflection of India’s agony.
Scores:
India — 1st innings: 148 in 61.1 overs.
England — 1st innings: Alastair Cook c Vijay b Aaron 79 (183b, 9x4), Sam Robson b Aaron 37 (70b, 6x4), Gary Ballance c Pujara b Ashwin 64 (117b, 13x4), Ian Bell c Dhoni b Ishant 7 (16b), Joe Root (not out) 149 (165b, 18x4, 1x6), Moeen Ali b Ashwin 14 (24b, 2x4), Jos Buttler c Ashwin b Ishant 45 (73b, 9x4), Chris Woakes c Dhoni b Bhuvneshwar 0 (3b), Chris Jordan c Dhoni b Ishant 20 (33b, 2x4), Stuart Broad c Kohli b Ishant 37 (21b, 5x4, 1x6), James Anderson lbw b Ashwin 1 (5b); Extras (b-18, lb-3, nb-11, w-1): 33; Total (in 116.3 overs): 486.
Fall of wickets: 1-66 (Robson), 2-191 (Cook), 3-201 (Ballance), 4-204 (Bell), 5-229 (Ali), 6-309 (Buttler), 7-318 (Woakes), 8-400 (Jordan), 9-463 (Broad).
India bowling: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 24-3-86-1, Ishant Sharma 30-8-96-4, Varun Aaron 29-1-153-2, Stuart Binny 12-0-58-0, R. Ashwin 21.3-2-72-3.
India — 2nd innings: Murali Vijay lbw b Anderson 2 (16b), Gautam Gambhir run out 3 (19b), Cheteshwar Pujara c Buttler b Anderson 11 (19b, 2x4), Virat Kohli c Cook b Jordan 20 (54b, 2x4), Ajinkya Rahane c Ballance b Broad 4 (15b), M.S. Dhoni c Robson b Woakes 0 (5b), Stuart Binny (not out) 25 (28b, 4x4), R. Ashwin c Bell b Jordan 7 (9b, 1x4), Bhuvneshwar Kumar c Bell b Jordan 4 (4b, 1x4), Varun Aaron run out 1 (3b), Ishant Sharma c Ali b Jordan 2 (4b); Extras (b-4, lb-10, w-1): 15; Total (in 29.2 overs): 94.
Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Vijay), 2-9 (Gambhir), 3-30 (Pujara), 4-45 (Rahane), 5-46 (Dhoni), 6-62 (Kohli), 7-70 (Ashwin), 8-74 (Bhuvneshwar), 9-84 (Aaron).
England bowling: James Anderson 8-3-16-2, Stuart Broad 10-2-22-1, Chris Woakes 7-0-24-1, Chris Jordan 4.2-0-18-4.
Man of the match: Joe Root.
Men of the series: Anderson (England) and Bhuvneshwar (India).
