Ashwin destroys England as India seal innings win despite Anderson milestone | England in India 2024

On the day that Jimmy Anderson celebrated mountain goat status, England’s expedition ended in outright failure, a harrowing second avalanche of wickets at the hands of India’s majestic spinners turning a tour of missed opportunities into a full-blown 4-1 thumping.

Just 13 minutes into a third day that slipped its carabiner and positively unspooled thereafter came one moment to cherish for the tourists. Anderson became the first and – given the format’s direction of travel – likely the last seamer in the history of Test cricket to reach 700 wickets when Kuldeep Yadav tickled an edge behind.

The 41-year-old finds himself in truly rarefied air with just two great spinners, Shane Warne (708) and Muttiah Muralitharan (800)above him. But Anderson’s milestone could not mask what followed. England, 259 runs in arrears courtesy of that initial tone-setting collapse at the hands of Kuldeep on day one, were bowled out for 195 in 48.1 overs; an innings and 64-run defeat that leaves the heist of Hyderabad six weeks ago a fading memory.

Anderson deserved a bit better than this; better than the flurry of yahoos and general bamboozlement that passed as England’s final outing with the bat on tour. Only Joe Root looked a player still mentally present in India, not packed and ready for business class, his composed and professional 84 very much the outlier among the top seven.

As Rohit Sharma took in the completion of India’s triumph from the comfort of the sidelines – a stiff back from the rigours of the previous day’s century seeing Jasprit Bumrah take the reins – Ravichandran Ashwin celebrated his 100th cap with five for 77 on the day and so nine in the match; fine reward for a spinner always striving for perfection.

But Ashwin, now up to 516 Test wickets in his career and with his young family cheering him on from the stands, has also sent down countless better spells for fewer rewards. On this occasion his victims threw themselves onto the pile – not that India, already assured of their 17th successive home series win, were not full value for the scoreline.

Ben Stokes and his players will have to wear this one and who knows, possibly have some real conversations about who they are and what they want to be. The truth session may start with a reevaluation of no shot being a bad one, something which somewhat fell apart at the sight of Ben Duckett charging Ashwin fifth ball and being bowled.

It triggered a cascade of three wickets inside 10 overs and five in the 23 before lunch, Crawley’s tour of 407 runs – one of three scores in the 70s but altitude sickness thereafter – ended when he fiddled Ashwin to backward short leg for a 16-ball duck. Ollie Pope, spooked by a lavish off-break that cut him in two, soon perished on 19, attempting to sweep square outside off stump only to top-edge Ashwin’s quasi-arm-ball skywards.

Enter Jonny Bairstow, chewing gum, instantly exchanging words with Shubman Gill regarding a comment on day two about Anderson retiring, but doing little to counter talk that he could be 100 caps and out himself. For the second time in an emotional match he went aerial, swatting three sixes off Ashwin to see Kuldeep swapped in, only for the wrist-spinner’s ripper of a fourth ball to trap him lbw on the back foot.

Gone for 39, this was Bairstow’s highest score in a series that has witnessed seven scores north of 25. His captain has fared little better with the bat, however; Stokes getting off a pair but still bowled for two when lunging forward to a slider from the returning Ashwin. With this came lunch, England 103 for five, and defeat inside three days was inevitable.

What it triggers next summer will be interesting, not least with Harry Brook set to return to the fold. It may be that for all the silken glovework on tour, Ben Foakes, who has averaged 20.5, may again find himself frozen out. Perhaps this was behind the slog sweep that handed Ashwin his 36th five-wicket haul, Foakes bowled trying to show he fits in.

All the while, Root was an island of calm and proficiency to ensure a tour that was initially boxed in by Bumrah ended with a return to his usual form. Having watched his previous tormentor set about vaporising the lower order, Root’s slog to long-on to complete the defeat and hand Kuldeep his third wicket is probably exempt from inquest.

It also ensured that photos of Anderson, England’s last batter standing, would chiefly be happy ones, such as walking off side-by-side with Shoaib Bashir earlier in the day after trying to make the 20-year-old go first. The young off-spinner had just sealed his second Test five-wicket haul, even if the early completion of India’s 477 all out only made a swift conclusion more likely.