File photo of Ben Stokes.© BCCI
Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team thrived on the impatience of England batters for an emphatic innings and 64-run victory in the final chapter of an action-packed five-match contest, handing the visitors their heaviest defeat in the ‘Bazball’ era. With the series already in bag, India were playing for crucial World Test Championship points and England made their job simpler by self-imploding on day three in Dharamsala. After the match, former England captain Nasser Hussain said that Ben Stokes and Co. lost the series as they got “lost” in all the talks revolving around Bazball.
“There is too much said and written about Bazball. We get lost in that term and the team do not like it. It is about individual performances in those conditions,” wrote Hussain on Sky Sports.
The game in Dharamsala saw James Anderson becoming the first-ever pacer to claim 700 wickets in Test cricket.
It was also the 100th Test match for Ravichandran Ashwin and he too scripted history with his sensational performance. The off-spinner from India became the first bowlers in 147-year history of cricket to claim five-wicket-in-an-innings on debut and 100th Test. Ashwin ended the game with a total of 9 wickets.
“The reason James Anderson, who took his 700th wicket in the Test, and Ravichandran Ashwin, who took nine wickets in his 100th Test, have ended up greats of the game is because they are constantly trying to improve. After a poor Ashes series, Jimmy wanted to increase his run-up speed going into the crease, feeling he needed a bit more zip at the age of 41,” said the former England captain.
“Ashwin is learning all the time, about seam positions and how to deliver the ball. You also look at Version Two of India spinner Kuldeep Yadav. That is so much better than Version One because he has tried to improve,” he added.
(With PTI Inputs)
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