England player ratings from the fourth Test defeat to India

Joe Root demonstrated on the fourth evening at the Wankhede Stadium that he too could tame the turning surface – against Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja too, rather than England’s less formidable spinners – in an innings of 77 which raised hopes, briefly, that the match and series were not quite yet done.

This incidentally was only the third time in the history of the game when a side after scoring 400 in the first innings had lost by an innings.

Virat Kohli hailed India’s series win over England as his “sweetest” as captain on Monday after the hosts humiliated the tourists by an innings and 36 runs in the fourth Test.

“All wickets have been good cricket wickets and we have had to play good cricket to win these three Tests, and none of the matches have been surrendered by the opposition”.

It all adds up to five defeats in England’s last seven Tests, with the unwelcome prospect of a record-equalling eighth of the year in Chennai still to come. We needed three wickets and they were only 50 ahead.

Still, their options were limited. Earlier he was added to the team as the third supporting spinner.

With Jos Buttler England’s last recognised batsman, India knew they were within touching distance of wrapping up the series.

India captain Virat Kohli, who scored a double century during India’s first innings, was adjudged the Man of the Match. I don’t care who you leave out.

I would send for another batsman from the Lions. If you’re not confident in them, let them go home.

England did have some happy moments when their debut player Keaton Jennings scored a century. They don’t have the patience to bat long enough, to play low-risk strokes.

England have been hammered.

That wish evaporated in an eight-over blur of high-quality spin bowling that, at times, was close to unplayable.

Apart from Root, the only other English batsman who showed some courage infront of the Indian bowlers was wicket-keeper bastmen Jonny Bairstow, who made 51 runs.

The neat sequence of one success per Ashwin over continued when Adil Rashid was compliant with a flick straight into the hands of deep midwicket. Full credit to India, they have played great cricket and deserve to win the series. Guys who miss out come forward to perform in the next opportunity. Our seamers can do that. We have never complained, we always find faults in our game and try to improve that.

After a forgettable Test series in England in 2014, Virat Kohli headed for Mumbai to seek Sachin Tendulkar’s guidance. “It feels really good”.

“We sensed that they were trying to stop runs rather than take wickets so we went after them hard. There is not that pace in the wicket to get the nicks that we get in England with a bit more movement and pace in the pitch”, Anderson had said. As he is no longer a member of the England limited-overs teams, he has no worldwide commitments until July after the Chennai Test finishes next week and while he has sounded increasingly jaded with some aspects of life on the road in recent weeks, he retains great pride in the leadership role. During India vs. England Mumbai test match, his batting was error free, classic. “When that (pace and movement) is not there, he (Kohli) is very much suited to playing in these conditions”.

It was a rapid decline for England after putting on 400 in its first innings. “But one thing we have strength in depth in is our seamers and we can get control with our seamers if it is not spinning a huge amount”. Laxman called the performance a comprehensive team effort: “I think everyone contributed well”.