India record their highest Test victory by runs; beat England by 434 runs

Bolstered by a mind-blowing all-around performance, India decimated England with a record of 434 runs on Sunday at Rajkot, taking a 2-1 lead in the five-match test series. Ravindra Jadeja, the local boy, was at the helm of the win as he bagged the player of the match award for his valuable contributions with bat and ball. Jadeja batted once in this Test, scoring 112 runs and bowled twice, claiming seven wickets, including a five-wicket haul.

The 434-run win is the highest victory margin by runs for India in Test cricket and the second-highest defeat margin for England. The third Test concluded on Day 4, and the two teams will meet next at Ranchi on February 23. With another two Tests in the pipeline, England’s captain, Ben Stokes, in the post-match presentation, sounded confident of bouncing back stronger and winning the series.

India started Day 4 with a formidable lead of 322 runs and had eight wickets in hand. They added another 234 runs for the loss of another two wickets and declared the innings to set a mammoth target of 557 for England to win. The overnight batters of Day 3, Shubman Gill and Kuldeep Yadav, were the two wickets to fall on Sunday. While Gill was unfortunately run out after scoring a well-fought 91, Yadav, with 27 runs, on the other hand, literally overstayed his welcome as a night watchman.

Later, the two Mumbai batters, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sarfaraz Khan, who individually scored at a strike rate of over 90, stitched a solid 172-run partnership that came off 158 balls for the fifth wicket. Jaiswal (214*) completed his second double century of the series in style, and Sarfaraz (68*) struck back-to-back half-centuries in his debut Test.   

Setting an almost unachievable total for England to chase, the visitors fell like ninepins in under 40 overs. Jadeja was the wrecker-in-chief as he scalped 5/41. Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah, who had grabbed two and one wickets in the first innings, picked the same number of wickets in the second. Ravichandran Ashwin, who missed Day 3 of this Test due to a family emergency, made his presence felt on Day 4 as he claimed 1/19.

Unlike the Indian bowlers, who had a fantastic outing, England’s batters had a forgettable day with the bat. More than half of them failed to score in double digits. Their top scorer was their number 10 batter, Mark Wood, who played a 15-ball cameo to muscle 33. 

Suffering a humongous defeat, it is pretty clear that their Bazball style of cricket has not worked for the second consecutive time in the series. Will England change their approach and play conventional Test cricket for the remaining two matches, or will they continue with the Bazball?