England 353 (Route 122*) &145 (Crawley 60, Ashwin 5-51) |
India 307 (Jurel 90, Jaiswal 73, Bashir 5-119) &192-5 (Gil 52*, Jurel 39*, Bashir 3-79) |
India wins by 5 wickets and leads series 3-1 |
scorecard |
On the fourth day of the fourth Test at Ranchi, England threatened to score a famous victory, but India decided the series with a five-wicket win.
Shoaib Bashir took two wickets in two balls just after lunch, leaving India five down and 72 runs short of the target of 192 runs.
However, Shubman Gill achieved an unbeaten 52 matches without a chance and shared an unbeaten 72 points with Dhruv Jhuler who finished with an unbeaten 39 matches.
India had been cruising till then, losing just three wickets for 16 runs. Yashasvi Jaiswal beat Joe Root to James Anderson for 37, Rohit Sharma beat Tom Hartley for 55 and Rajat Patidar got Basheer for a duck.
The scoring stopped, tensions rose and England's confidence soared. England's chances of victory began to look real when Bashir completed his double.
Instead, India took a commanding 3-1 lead, extending their proud unbeaten record dating back to 2012, while England suffered their first series defeat under Ben Stokes' captaincy.
There will be a break of over a week before the fifth and final Test in Dharamsala begins on March 7.
England regret the narrow lead
This was a fascinating conclusion to what was a great series of great tests. As Rohit and Jaiswal progressed to 82-0, there was no sign of drama to come.
England were excellent on Monday, pushing all over the field to try and regain the initiative they conceded on Sunday.
In the end, they were left with too much work to do. England were thwarted by the composure of Gill and Jurrell, even though the pitches were scheming and Bashir and Hartley hid their inexperience.
As with the defeats in the second and third Tests, England can look back on missed opportunities in this match.
Stokes' team gave away the last three wickets in the first innings, losing six runs, and lost 5-23 in the second. A crucial drop from Ollie Robinson gave Jurrell another 31 points on Sunday morning. England would have liked to have added another 50 to India's target.
Instead, England suffered their first series loss in two years, and after draws with New Zealand and Australia, England were now winless in three series.
Bashir almost leads England to victory
Bashir is one of the most inspired England players in recent memory. After taking his first five wickets in his first innings, he almost led England to victory in the second. Apart from the occasional change of ends, he bowled the entire fourth day.
From 40-0 overnight, Rohit and Jaiswal scored quickly in the first 30 minutes. Rohit clipped Anderson for a six and England shuffled their bowlers. Root's flight fooled Jaiswal and Anderson deftly took a diving catch at backward point.
Bashir and Hartley were employed in parallel. Hartley got the upper hand on the advancing Rohit and Ollie Pope maintained a fine catch at backward short leg to keep the struggling Patidars away.
Gill and Ravindra Jadeja survived until lunch, but Jadeja hit a Bashir full toss to Jonny Bairstow at midwicket and Sarfaraz Khan was caught at short leg on the next ball.
It was almost impossible to score runs and India went 31 overs with no outs. Jurrell almost missed Hartley's points, but his balls regularly dipped low or curved over the edge.
India persevered. Bashir and Hartley exchanged ends and England constantly shuffled down the field, but the match was over when Gill hit it back over Bashir's head to score six.
Gill hit another high in the same over, crossing 50, and Jurrell hit the winning run in the next.
Indian youth see through it.
This will feel like an important series win for India, who have come up from 1-0 down without a number of established stars despite their dreadful record at home.
Virat Kohli, Mohammed Shami and Rishabh Pant were completely absent, KL Rahul played only one Test and Jasprit Bumrah was rested for this match. Jurel, Gill and Jaiswal stood up in their place.
It was Jurrell who led India's fightback from 177-7 in the first innings. The wicketkeeper scored 90 in just his second Test, giving India momentum and the spinners capitalized on the momentum on the third afternoon.
And Jurrell's arrival quieted India on Monday. He formed a match-winning partnership with Gill. Gil started off nervous, but after lunch his height grew.
Jurrell hit his 36th shot off Bashir and scored four points, breaking England's lead. Both players used their legs, but often just for defense.
Gill faced 119 balls before his first boundary, the first of six balls from Basheer. It was a performance of grit, determination and iron will that sealed India's 17th consecutive home series win.
More to come.