England had no solution to tackle the deadly Indian spinners. The latter outplayed it on Day 3 of the fourth and final Test for the Anthony de Mello Trophy at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday.With this win, India has retained the Anthony de Mello Trophy, besides sealing its place in the final of the 2019-21 ICC World Test Championship final, set to be played against New Zealand at Lord's in June. Meanwhile, copious records were scripted on Day 3 (Saturday), as we take a look at it all.
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Axar Patel makes top debutIt was Axar Patel's maiden Test series, as he made his debut in the second Tests. Nonetheless, since then, he has been a pain for the Englishmen, as he managed to scalp 27 wickets, which is the joint-most by any spinner in the world in his debut series, having played a maximum of three Tests, along with Dilip Doshi (vs Australia, 1979-80). Also, he claimed the joint second-most five-fors in the debut Test series, along with Terry Alderman and Arthur Mailey (4), while the record lies with Rodney Hogg (5).
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Bad idea to hand India the opening defeatIt has been two consecutive occasions when India has bounced back to win the series after suffering a defeat in the opening Test. As a result, this was India's sixth instance of doing the same.
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A first for India among partnershipsThere were twin 100-run stands for India in this game, for the seventh and eighth wicket. It was the first time India managed to do so in the format and the third globally, after Australia (vs India, 2008) and England (vs Australia, 2011).
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Jonny Bairstow records an unwanted oneBairstow was yet again dismissed for a duck in this game. As a result, he has now been dismissed for the sixth time in his previous nine Test innings for the unlucky score. Furthermore, he has recorded the joint-most Test ducks against India in a series (3), alongside Mike Smith. Moreover, he has now scored the joint second-most ducks in the format against India, along with Shane Warne and Mervyn Dillon.
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India records a unique oneThe English batsmen struggled with the spin and were mostly adjudged leg-before. Consequently, this series turned out to be where the Indian bowlers have managed to wrap the batsman leg-before on most occasions (25), going past its previous best of 24 against Australia in 1979-80.
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Ravichandran Ashwin finds new-found love against EnglandAshwin managed to finish as the highest wicket-taker in the series, scalping 32 victims, which also involved three fifers. Similarly, Ashwin has now claimed the joint-most fifers against a side in the format (6), along with New Zealand. It was also his best Test series to date, having claimed the most wickets. He also became the best Indian to claim the most five-fors on a winning cause (25) and joint-thrid overall with Ranagana Herath, after Muttiah Muralitharan (41) and Shane Warne (27). He has also become the first Indian to claims more than 30 wickets in a Test series on multiple occasions.Furthermore, Ashwin has become the only cricketer among five to claim 30-plus wickets and score a century in a four-Test series. He and Axar are also the sixth Indian bowling pair to have claimed respective fifers in the same Test innings. Meanwhile, Ashwin also won his eighth Man of the Series award in Tests, which is the third most after Muralitharan (11) and Jacques Kallis (9).
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Indian spinners nail itThe Indian spinners managed to scalp 67 wickets in the series. As a result, it was its joint third best, including against Australia (5 Tests), behind 72 (vs England, 1972-73, 5 Tests) and 68 (vs England, 2016-17, 5 Tests). Moreover, the series was the third with spinners claiming more than 100 wickets, while the first and second, too, have happened between India and England.
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Washington Sundar joins an unfortunate listSundar played a worthy knock of an unbeaten 96. While there is nothing unfortunate with his innings, he became the fourth Indian in the format to be stranded in his 90s before the entire team was bowled out. Among others are Gundappa Viswanath, Dilip Vengsarkar and Ashwin.
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Match summaryWinning the toss, England elected to bat, as it was bundled out for 205, with Patel claiming a four-for. India managed to post 365, courtesy of Rishabh Pant's 101 and Sundar's unbeaten 96. In the second innings, England was bowled out for 135, thanks to Patel and Ashwin's respective fifers.Brief scores: England 205 & 135 (Lawrence 50; Patel 548, Ashwin 547) lost to India 365 (Pant 101, Sundar 96*; Stokes 489, Anderson 344) by an innings and 25 runs.
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