Ranchi (Jharkhand): India on Monday overcame the 'Bazball' challenge with a hard-fought five-wicket victory over England in the fourth and penultimate Test for a 17th consecutive series at home.
India handed a harsh reality check to the visitors' ultra-aggressive approach. India started the fourth day with an overnight score of 40 for 0 in a chase of 192. Skipper Rohit Sharma (55 off 81 balls) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (37 of 44 balls) provided the perfect platform for other batters with an 84-run stand, giving India the best chances to win the match.
However, India then lost five crucial wickets inside a mere 21 runs including Rohit Sharma, Rajat Patidar (0 off 6 balls), Ravindra Jadeja (4 off 33 balls) and Sarfaraz Khan (Golden Duck) and were reeling at 120 for 5 with 72 runs were required. It was Shubman Gill's (52 not out) and Dhruv Jurel's (39 not out) gritty partnership of unbeaten 72-run guided the hosts to cross the finishing line.
Left-arm spinner Tom Hartley (1 for 64) took the prized scalp of Rohit, while Shoaib Bashir was the most successful English bowler, scalping 3 for 79 in the second innings for a match haul of eight wickets.
With this triumph, the Indian team has taken an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series with the last game scheduled in Dharamsala from March 7. This means India have won 39 out of 50 Tests at home and secured the 17th consecutive series in their own backyard.
Their last defeat at home came in the 2012-13 season when they were thrashed by the Alastair Cook-led England in a four-match series by 1-2. So let's just delve into India's journey since their last series loss in India.
1. Border-Gavaskar Trophy (Australia in India), 2012/13
India dealt a 4-0 whitewash to the Aussies in 2013, a tour remembered for the emergence of off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who had picked 29 wickets in four matches at an average of 20.10 including four five-wicket hauls in the series and then skipper MS Dhoni's rare maiden double century in the first Test at Chennai.
2. West Indies in India Test Series, 2013/14
This two-match series was scripted in the history books as the legendary Sachin Tendulkar announced his retirement from all formats of cricket at his home ground the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Current Indian skipper Rohit Sharma made his debut with a bang scoring 288 runs in two innings including two hundreds. India won the two-match series by 2-0.
3. Freedom Trophy (South Africa in India), 2015/16
This India versus South African three-test match series was the first big challenge for then skipper Virat Kohli, who was leading the home side in their own backyard for the first time. India clinched the series by 3-0 against the Proteas side, which had players like AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Dale Steyn, and Faf du Plessis in their arsenal.
4. New Zealand in India Test Series, 2016/17
It was again Ravichandran Ashwin, who took 27 wickets and scored 71 runs as India clean swept New Zealand in the three-match series.
5. England in India Test Series, 2016/17
Batter Karun Nair stole the headlines in the series, becoming the second Indian batter to hit a triple century after former opener Virender Sehwag. India won the five-match series by 4-0 with one game resulting in draw.
6. Bangladesh in India Test Match, 2016/17
Star batter Virat Kohli scored 204 runs in the first innings and Ravindra Jadeja's relentless accuracy and speedster Ishant Sharma's reverse swing ensured India dismissed Bangladesh for 250 in an improbable chase of 459 and secured a 208-run victory in Hyderabad in the one off Test, extending their undefeated streak to 19 tests at home.
7. Border-Gavaskar Trophy (Australia in India), 2016/17
A sixth half-century in the series from KL Rahul, an all-round performance from Ravindra Jadeja and a controlled aggression from stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane snuffed out the last of Australia's fight, sealing the series 2-1 for India. Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav announced himself in world cricket with a four-wicket haul in the first innings of the fourth Test.
8. Sri Lanka in India Test Series, 2017/18
India edged out in a cliff-hanger series against the experienced Sri Lankan side, winning the three-match series by 1-0. Virat Kohli was the hero of the series scoring 610 runs.
9. Afghanistan in India Test Match, 2018
This one-off Test between India and Afghanistan was historic for both the teams as the visitors were playing their maiden Test while the hosts recorded their biggest-ever innings victory and first-ever Test win inside two days. It is also remembered for India's stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane calling the visitor to have a picture with the trophy.
10. West Indies in India Test Series, 2018/19
India defeated West Indies by an innings and 272 runs in the series opener at Rajkot. It took India under 100 overs to bowl them out twice in their third straight three-day defeat in India. India's 2018 under-19 skipper Prithvi Shaw, made an exceptional debut, scoring a century in his maiden Test innings at the then SCA Stadium in Rajkot. The Virat Kohli-led side whitewashed West Indies by 2-0 with the help of pacer Umesh Yadav, who took his first 10-wicket haul in home conditions, becoming the only third Indian to achieve this feat after legendary Kapil Dev and Javagal Srinath (13 for 132) in 1999.
11. Freedom Trophy (South Africa in India), 2019/20
Three Indian batters, Virat Kohli, Mayank Agarwal and Rohit Sharma smashed double centuries in the first, second and third Test of the series respectively and then all the bowlers chipped in at regular intervals as India whitewashed the Proteas in the three-Test series.
12. Bangladesh in India Test Series, 2019/20
Virat Kohli-led team India played their first-ever day-night Test match against Bangladesh at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Pacer Umesh Yadav's fifer in the second Test and speedster Ishant Sharma's 12 wickets in the series guided India to their seventh straight win. With this win, India became the first team to ever win four successive Tests by an innings.
13. Anthony de Mello Trophy (England in India), 2020/21
This was a very crucial series in India's perspective to qualify for the inaugural World Test Championship final. The hosts were one game down in the four-match series and then they bounced back courtesy left-arm spinner Axar Patel's excellence with the ball, Ashwin's guiling spin bowling and Rishabh Pant's wicket-keeping brilliance to clinch it by 3-1.
14. New Zealand in India Test Series, 2021/22
New Zealand's left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel became the third bowler to take all ten wickets in an innings in Test cricket, bowling India out for 325 runs at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. However, in reply, New Zealand were bowled out for only 62 runs courtesy of Ashwin's four-for. India went on to win the match by 372 runs and later won the Test series 1–0 after the first match resulted in a draw due to Kiwi's final pair seeing out 52 balls in a tense last-wicket stand before bad light ended play 12 minutes before the scheduled close.
15. Sri Lanka in India Test Series, 2021/22
India wrapped up an emphatic 2-0 series win inside two sessions on the third day in both matches. The series lasted for only six days, with Sri Lanka's 208 all out in their final innings being their highest total of the series.
16. Border-Gavaskar Trophy (Australia in India), 2022/23
A fourth-successive Border-Gavaskar Trophy series ended in an identical result as India lift the trophy clinching the series 2-1. India needed to win three Tests in the series to secure their participation in the World Test Championship final, but Sri Lanka's defeat against New Zealand kept the doors open for India to have another go for the trophy.
17. Anthony de Mello Trophy* (England in India), 2023/24
Different youngsters raised their hands on different occasions. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (two double centuries), Sarfaraz Khan (two half-centuries), Dhruv Jurel ( crucial 90-run knock in the Ranchi Test) and Akash Deep's three-for in his debut innings along with performances from seniors powered India to take unassailable 3-1 lead in five-match series. The final Test will be played at Dharamshala
