India lost the penultimate Test against England by 60 runs and thus, the series to England at the Aegis Bowl in Southampton on Sunday. Despite a massive 101-run stand between Kohli and Rahane, visitors failed to chase down the target of 245 runs. As a result, the entire Indian batting line-up collapsed within 69.4 overs while England captured the series 3-1 with one more game to go.
What will hurt Virat Kohli and his men most is the fact that they were beaten by one of the weakest teams in recent times. An ageing bowling attack of Jimmy Anderson-Stuart Broad along with off-spinner in Moeen Ali (5/63 and 4/71) tormented the Indians just like they did during the 2014 series.
Under Shastri-Kohli duo, India have lost in Australia (where MS Dhoni captained in two Tests), in South Africa and now in England.
The inconsequential final Test will be played at the Oval from September 7.
The turning point of the game
Virat Kohli’s dismissal in the second session was the major success for the Englishmen in the fourth innings. That was the beginning of India’s downfall which even Rahane couldn’t resist with his 4th Test fifty. He was the only warrior left in the battle who also dropped his weapon in the 61st over off Moeen Ali’s delivery. He ended up scoring 51 runs off 159 balls.
After the tea session, Pandya departed for a seven-ball duck after which Pant (18) followed him to the dressing room.
All the tail-enders except Ashwin failed to create any big difference in the total. Ishant (0), Shami (8) and Bumrah (0*) made the least contribution to the total while the 33-year-old off-spinner struggled till the end and scored 25 runs before losing his wicket to Sam Curran.
The faulty first session
Earlier today, the Indian bowlers didn’t take much time to wrap up the English innings which was resumed at 260/8. Mohammed Shami opened the day by removing Stuart Broad on a golden duck and got a fourth wicket haul in the second innings.
A few overs later, Curran got run out on 46 and England were bundled up for 271, putting a target of 245 runs for India to chase.
In return, India once again had a poor start as the Indian openers failed to provide the much-needed strength. Stuart Broad affected the first loss to India, removing KL Rahul on a seven-ball duck. A perfect inswinger did its job to bowl him out and India were reduced to 4/1.
Soon, India witnessed two more losses as Pujara (5) failed to fend off an inswinging delivery from veteran seamer Anderson. The ball hit Pujara's right thigh – an easy decision for the umpire to judge him LBW.
Dhawan (17) was the final wicket to fall before the lunch session. An edge off a delivery from Anderson saw Ben Stokes take a very good catch at slip, as India lost their third wicket at 22.
The pressure ultimately piled up on skipper Virat Kohli and his deputy Ajinkya Rahane. The duo endured some hostile bowling to take India to 46/3.
Off-spinner Moeen Ali thought he had Kohli, who was on 9. But the umpire ruled out the LBW appeal. England sought a review but the decision stood as Kohli was found to have edged the ball on to his pad.
Couple of overs later, Rahane too got a reprieve when he was batting on 12. Left-arm seamer Curran got an LBW verdict against Rahane with an away-moving ball hitting the right pad. Rahane took a review and it was later revealed that Curran had overstepped the crease.
Kohli, Rahane's damage control after lunch
After lunch, Kohli and Rahane played the most crucial knock of the match. They both shared a 101-run stand for the 5th wicket which turned out to be the highest partnership of the Indian innings.
Meanwhile, Kohli slammed the 19th fifty of his Test career which also pumped up the Indian cricketers and the fans as well. However, after adding 8 more runs into his account, he returned to the dressing and India faced another huge blow.
A delivery from Moeen got a sharp bounce to kiss Kohli's gloves and Alastair Cook took an easy catch at short leg in a big relief for the hosts.