India thrashed England by 434 runs in the Rajkot Test to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.
Riding on Yashasvi Jaiswal’s blistering double hundred (214*) and half-centuries from Shubman Gill (91) and debutant Sarfaraz Khan (68*), the hosts racked up 430/4 (declared) in their second essay, setting a mammoth target of 557 for the visitors.
Chasing the target, England’s innings folded for a paltry 122 in 39.4 overs. Ravindra Jadeja starred with the ball, returning with a five-wicket haul to ensure India’s biggest victory in Test cricket (in terms of runs).
After the game, India skipper Rohit Sharma attributed the team's historic win to the contributions of the young and inexperienced members of the side.
"Obviously it's a very good feeling to win a game like that and especially with such a young team as well. (We had) two debutants (Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel) and not a lot of Test matches amongst the playing eleven as well," Rohit told the media in Rajkot after India's win.
"A lot of these guys are learning from the experience that they're having in the middle. We got to learn a lot about how we played in Hyderabad and then in Vizag when we won."
Notably, India are missing the services of their several first-choice players in the ongoing Test series against England. While star batter Virat Kohli is not featuring in the series due to ‘personal reasons’, senior pace Mohammad Shami is still recovering from an ankle injury.
After the opening Test in Hyderabad, key batter KL Rahul also sustained a quadriceps injury and he is yet to regain complete fitness.
No wonder, Rohit Sharma mentioned that India had to put in considerable effort given the current circumstances.
"We knew it's not going to be an easy one for us to just come out here and win the series. We have (had) to work really, really hard, especially with a lot of our front line players missing as well," Rohit said.
"A lot of credit to these young boys who have come in and showed a lot of character. Looks like they actually belong here and they want to stay here as well," he remarked.
The captain expressed surprise over how quickly the game ended on the penultimate day, adding that India wanted to have a certain number of overs available to bowl England out.
"I thought the game will go on to the fifth day. We had only 40 overs to bowl today. We thought 130 overs to get them out will be quite comfortable for us. That's probably (was) the reason," he said. "It was not more than the runs, it was more of how many overs do we need to get them out. That was the decision that was taken. By no means I expected that we'll get over by this evening," he said.
Rohit Sharma had special praise reserved for Jaiswal, who slammed his second Test double ton in the ongoing series against England.
"I won't say anything about Jaiswal now, everyone is talking about him. Let him play. He's playing well and (that) is good for us. He's in good form. I'm not going to say much more than that," he stated.
The fourth Test is scheduled to be held in Rajkot from February 23.
(With PTI Inputs)