Tom Hartley promised to dig in for a bit with Root before the former was taken out by a Jasprit Bumrah special to be trapped LBW. In the same over, India's vice-captain produced a similar nut to get Mark Wood LBW. Shoaib Bashir, though, dug in for a while to support Root's quest for a ton and the partnership stretched the game deep into the session. However, a cracker from Ravindra Jadeja cleaned up Bashir, leaving Root with no choice but to take the bowling on. In the process, he perished to long-on, to give India a crushing win. Much like in the first innings, England's batting once again came a cropper.
After James Anderson's landmark 700th scalp in the morning session had hastened the end of India's innings, the onus was on England to put up a strong fight to sign off the tour. Unfortunately for them, that wasn't to be. Ashwin sliced through the top-order with his guile, forcing England's batters to play with indecision. Jonny Bairstow (39 off 31) threatened to provide some entertainment but as was the case in the first innings, his fun was cut short by Kuldeep Yadav as soon as the wrist spinner was brought on. When Stokes fell to Ashwin at the stroke of lunch, it was a dismissal that summed up England's fortunes in the series.
If Ashwin sealed the game on day three, the victory was set up by Kuldeep's brilliance (5-72) on day one. While England's decision to bat under seamer-friendly conditions was a brave one, it was soon evident that it was the right call. After the morning session, the pitch started to play true, allowing batters to play their shots. However, there was just a bit of hold in there for spinners if they were willing to be accurate, and Kuldeep was just that. It also helped that he had a bag of tricks to which England had no answer to. Right through the series, the 29-year-old had dented the visitors with his repertoire and Dharamsala was no different.
Zak Crawley (79) showed that runs were there to be made but his dismissal also showed how good Kuldeep was in the first innings. The visitors lost six wickets in just 37 balls and on a good batting surface, that was unpardonable. Ashwin duly mopped up the lower order to end with a four-fer in the first innings, and that momentum was carried on by the veteran into the second innings when he bowled close to his best in the series. India's batters didn't make the mistake of their counterparts and feasted on the surface by piling on the runs. Yashasvi Jaiswal smashed a fifty, going past 700 runs in the series as well but couldn't kick on.
However, the momentum he gave set up Rohit Sharma (103) and Shubman Gill (110) to notch up their respective second tons of the series. Their 171-run stand flattened England as runs came at a brisk pace with boundaries. Both took the spinners to the cleaners and Stokes' unorthodox plans with the field sets also didn't work. Rohit feasted on anything short and wide on either side of the wicket while Shubman Gill's footwork against spin was a delight to watch. England did remove the set batters in succession through Stokes' magic ball - his first of the series - to remove the Indian captain. Anderson then removed Gill but India refused to put their foot off the pedal.
The visitors then had to contend with fifties from Devdutt Padikkal (65) and Sarfaraz Khan (56). The duo came out with a counterpunch mentality at a time when England were hoping to make further inroads with the ball reversing. Both had their moments of fortune but also displayed tremendous bravado through testing spells. Even Kuldeep (30) himself was involved in a 49-run stand with Bumrah (20) as India's batters blunted England's venomless bowling attack to the core. Bashir (5-173) ended with a fifer and while he did bowl well in parts, the inexperience showed.
England's moments to remember in the game were Anderson's milestone and Stokes' ripper to Sharma. Across the series, the visitors' bowling attack got found out and so did their muddled batting approach. On a sporting Dharamsala surface, India were just too hot to handle.
Brief scores: England218 and 195 (Joe Root 84; Ashwin 5-77) lost to India 477 (Shubman Gill 110, Rohit Sharma 103, Devdutt Padikkal 65; Shoaib Bashir 5-173) by an innings and 64 runs
Ravichandran Ashwin played a pivotal role in India's victory over England in 2014. Here are some more details about that match:
Venue and Date: The match took place at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur, India, from December 13 to 17, 2012.
Result: India won the match convincingly by an innings and 244 runs.
Ashwin's Performance: Ravichandran Ashwin was the standout performer in the match. He took 6 wickets in England's first innings, helping to restrict them to just 330 runs. Ashwin bowled with great control and variation, troubling the English batsmen consistently.
Contributions from Other Players: Apart from Ashwin, other Indian players also made significant contributions. Cheteshwar Pujara scored a brilliant double century (206 runs) in India's only innings, guiding them to a massive total of 658/8 declared. MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, and Murali Vijay also made valuable contributions with the bat.
England's Struggles: England faced a tough challenge from the Indian bowlers throughout the match. Their batsmen struggled to cope with the spin-friendly conditions, with only a few managing to put up some resistance.
Overall, it was a dominant performance by India, with both their batting and bowling units firing on all cylinders. Ashwin's exceptional bowling played a crucial role in securing the victory for the home team.
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