India thrashed England by an innings and 64 runs to emphatically win the fifth and last Test at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala on Saturday to win the five-match series 4-1.
Rohit (103) and Shubman Gill (110) set up the huge victory on the second day with a 171-run second-wicket stand to put the England bowlers on the back foot. Rookie batsman Sarfaraz Khan (56) and debutant Devdutt Padikkal (65) also made useful contributions as India posted 477 runs.
Before this, England had posted 218 in their first innings, with Kuldeep Yadav (5/72) and R Ashwin (4/51) being the chief destroyers. Then in the second innings, Ashwin picked 5 wickets, while Kuldeep and Jasprit Bumrah took two each as England crumbled to 195 all out and lost the Test by an innings margin.
Rohit Sharma, who did not take the field due to a stiff back in the last innings, said that a lot of things had to happen correctly for such a resounding victory.
“When you win a Test like this, everything has to fall in place. At some stage, people are gonna go and people are gonna come and we know that. These guys are maybe short of experience, they have played a lot of cricket and I can stand here and see that these guys responded pretty well under pressure. The credit goes to the entire team and it was pleasing to see. When you win a series like this, we talk about scoring runs and 100s but it is important to take 20 wickets to win a Test. The way bowlers took responsibility was pleasing to see,” Rohit said in post-match presentation.
Rohit also singled out Kuldeep Yadav and Yashasvi Jaiswal, along with their promising future for India.
“It was over a period of time that we had a conversation (with Kuldeep), he's got a lot of potential and when the chips were down in the 1st innings, he bowled really well and after his injury, he came back, and worked at NCA and he is putting a lot of effort and the most pleasing thing was his batting.
He's (talking about Jaiswal) got a long way to go, amazing to be in this position. When a guy's got talent like that who can put pressure on the bowlers from the word go, there will be lots of challenges going forward. He is a tough guy and loves the challenges, clearly superb series for him, and likes to score big,” Rohit said.
(Sports18/JioCinema inputs)
