Talk about sending someone packing. England have been totally humiliated and the inquisition must follow. From being No.1 in the world a few months ago, they now return home cap-in-hand hoping for some Christmas mercy.
So keeping with the festive spirit, I too would rather focus on heaping praise where it’s due. The new No. 1 side, led by one of the most aggressive Test captains of recent times, is taking no prisoners. With the series done and dusted coming into the final Test, the question was whether England could salvage any pride. Another toss win, this time on a flat track, bode well – surely they would at least avoid defeat? Surely with a solid 400+ total consuming all but 2 days; but as India already showed in the Mumbai Test, never say never.
But no one could have predicted that were India to post a record 759/7 total, Kohli’s contribution would have been a mere 2% of that. Two rookies, Rahul and debutant Karun Nair, showed incredible application. Rahul was desperately unlucky to hole out on 199, whilst Karun was permitted by his captain to power on (at the risk of giving up the opportunity to win the Test). The ensuing fireworks which got him to 303* were worthy of any T20, but it didn’t stop there. With 10 wickets needed on the final day on a flattish wicket, India’s spin kings led by a revived Jadeja posting best-ever figures of 7-56 completely bamboozled the English defences. This was only the 4th time in history a team has won by an innings after conceding 400+ runs (the 3rd time was in Mumbai!).
So many records have tumbled this series, but the one which stands out most is that India became the 1st team to post four 400+ totals after losing 4 tosses. It is a testament to Kohli’s captaincy that he has been able to consistently galvanise his team when under pressure, and with 18 successive matches unbeaten and 5 consecutive series wins, expect the Indian train to go steaming on across all formats in 2017.
Nilesh Raj Patel ACA
The Prideview Group
