England were bowled out for 205 on the first day of the fourth and final Test against India at the Motera Cricket Stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Opting to bat first, England reached 74/3 at lunch on the opening day after losing three quick wickets in the first session. Ben Stokes (55) and Daniel Lawrence (46) led the charge for the visitors in the second and third sessions but Axar Patel (4/68) and Ravichandran Ashwin’s (3/47) combined effort ended England’s misery in their 76th over.
Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma opened the innings for India, while James Anderson opened the attack. After two fuller deliveries, the veteran pacer gets his reward on the third ball. Gill was too slow to defend the delivery and he gets out on a LBW! IND: 0/1 (0.3 overs)
Indian openers with 2 ducks in a home Test series:
ML Jaisimha v AUS in 1964
Farokh Engineer v WI in 1974-75
Sunil Gavaskar v WI in 1983
Shikhar Dhawan v SA in 2015
Shubman Gill v ENG in 2021
Most Test wickets at home among spinners:
Muttiah Muralitharan - 493
Anil Kumble - 350
Shane Warne - 319
Ravi Ashwin - 281*
Rangana Herath - 278
Team India 24/1, trail England by 181 runs
India ended the day at 24 for 1 with wily old James Anderson (5-5-0-1) accounting for an out-of-form Shubman Gill (0). Rohit Sharma (8 batting, 34 balls) and Cheteshwar Pujara (15 batting, 36 balls) were holding fort for the home side.
Under Pressure 7th wicket stands for India in the last few years
Pant/Sundar Today*
Thakur/Sundar Gabba 2021
Ashwin/Pujara Adelaide 2018
B Kumar/Rahane Joburg 2018
Jadeja/Saha - Dharamsala 2017
Pujara/Saha-Ranchi 2017
Risabh Pant 502* runs in Test cricket in 2021.
Only Joe Root (764) has more.
A brilliant century stand between Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar helped India go to stumps on 294/7 on day two.
The hosts lead by 89 runs.
England bowl India out for 365
England 6/0 at lunch on Day 3, trail by 154 runs
Well played Champ! Fell short of 4 of 100, a personal milestone…but your 96 have gone a long way for team India!
That victory against England means India finish the league phase of the inaugural ICC World Test Championship with a fine view from the top of the table.
Save the date: June 18-22, Lord’s. India vs. New Zealand
INDIA New Zealand
The inaugural ICC World Test Championship finalists!
Ashwin has won his 8th Man of the series award. Only two cricketers have won more.
Most five-wicket hauls by an Indian in a Test series:
4 - Subhash Gupte v NZ in 1955
4 - Bhagwath Chandrasekhar v ENG in 1972-73
4 - Harbhajan Singh v AUS in 2001
4 - R Ashwin v AUS in 2013
4 - AXAR PATEL v ENG in 2021