- England lost the fourth Test by five wickets as India reached their target of 192 runs.
- Ben Stokes’ team put up a fight, with Shoaib Bashir taking three quick wickets
- But India maintained their composure and inflicted the first series defeat of the Bazball era.
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England put up a fight today in their search for a second miracle to set up a fairytale decider in Dharamshala next week, but could not prevent India from slowly but surely marching towards a fourth five-wicket Test victory and inflicting the first defeat of the series. The era of Bazball.
When Shoaib Bashir took two wickets in successive balls to reduce India to 120 for five, still 72 off their target of 192, it really looked like England would pull off a daylight robbery in Ranchi to follow up their heist in Hyderabad in the first test. .
But wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel, freshly introduced to this Indian team for the third Test, joined hands with Shubman Gill to calmly score the remaining runs and give his team an unassailable 3-1 lead to preserve their unbeaten series record. dating back to 2012.
For England it was a case of what could have been, as they began day three perfectly positioned to go ahead and level the series, but endured a nightmare day that gave India the initiative and the chance to achieve this decisive victory.
England have once again played very good cricket in what has been another compelling Test series, but in the end they have not been good enough to make history by winning here. Next week they will travel to the foothills of the Himalayas with only pride at stake.
England lost the fourth Test against India by five wickets as the hosts reached the target of 192.
Shubman Gill (pictured) and Dhruv Jurel took them home with an unbroken sixth-place finish.
The defeat means England suffered the first series defeat of the Bazball and Ben Stokes era.
England put up a fight and Shoaib Bashir took two wickets in two balls to give them hope.
It looked like India would cruise to victory when they doubled their overnight score of 40 without loss, advancing to more than five an over.
Ben Stokes was his usual proactive self on the field and made the changes to the attack, using four different bowlers in the first six overs of the fourth day.
And it was when the England captain turned to Joe Root that England finally made their breakthrough, Yashasvi Jasiwal getting a tick around the outside edge of Root’s third ball of the day which was fired towards Jimmy Anderson diving forward at short third man.
Their batsman’s exit from the series changed everything for India and they went completely into their shells once their captain Rohit Sharma was deceived by Tom Hartley at the fly and brilliantly stumped by Ben Foakes, Stokes celebrated passionately as if England had already won the test. .
When Rajat Patidar, who has struggled since entering this series for the second Test in place of the injured KL Rahul, turned Bashir in the corner for Ollie Pope to take well, two wickets had come in eight balls and England were on their way. new to the game. .
India hit the brakes, advancing to less than two an over until lunch, and when Ravindra Jadeja tried to add to it, he played a Bashir full toss to mid-wicket in the second over after the interval where Jonny Bairstow took another excellent one. catch.
The excitement really started to build on the next ball when Sarfaraz Khan gave Bashir a slight tickle and was caught in the corner, so slight that umpire Kumar Dharmasena didn’t detect it, but the technology did and Sarfaraz had to leave.
By this time, England had taken five wickets for 36 runs in 21 overs, while India were completely overwhelmed by England’s young spinners and the way their captain and all the fielders were fully supporting them.
India’s nerves were calmed by Jurel who, in just his second Test, took advantage of his first 90 innings by keeping the scoreboard ticking and giving Gill perfect support.
Both remained undefeated despite both Bashir and Hartley playing with a maturity far beyond their inexperience and having superb backing on the field.
Trevally and Gill maintained their composure and steadied the ship, before taking India home with the victory.
It means England will play for pride in next week’s fifth and final Test in Dharamsala.
England were left to rue a second innings collapse on the third day as they failed to make their strong case count as Ben Stokes’ side lost their last seven wickets for just 35 runs.
Gill showed his class to clinch victory, hitting Bashir for successive sixes to add to his half-century and finishing unbeaten on 52 to follow his hundred in Rajkot, while Jurel finished with 39.
His position was enough to break the hearts of the English and give victory to an understrength Indian team that lost Virat Kohli and KL Rahul and left out their best bowler in Jasprit Bumrah to rest him for the final Test and the IPL that follows quickly here.
It remains to be seen if Bumrah now returns for the final Test, but Dharamashala is expected to provide much more favorable conditions than the other venues and it could be that Bumrah wants to play as India look to confirm their superiority.