India Crush England by Innings and 64 Runs, Win Series 4-1

Ace India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took nine wickets in the match including a fifer in the second innings in his 100th Test to power India to a dominating victory over England in the fifth and final Test of the series at HPCA Cricket stadium in Dharamshala on Saturday.

Dharamshala: Ravichandran Ashwin took a five-wicket haul in his 100th Test as India thrived on the impatience of England batters for an emphatic innings and 64-run victory in the final chapter of an action-packed five-match contest, handing the visitors their heaviest defeat in the 'Bazball' era.

India, already on unassailable lead, were brilliant in all departments and England made their job simpler by self-imploding on day three here.

England were bundled out for 195 towards the end of the afternoon session as Ashwin wreaked havoc by taking nine wickets in the fixture casting English batters with his turn. Joe Root was the lone warrior for his team and showed some resilience with 84 off 128 balls but his efforts were not enough to prevent India's victory.

England batters kept the scoreboard running at a rapid pace by being on the offensive front against Indian spinners but the trick didn't work for them. The game appeared to be going only one way when India took a mammoth 259-run first-innings lead in the morning session by posting 477 all out in response to England's 218 on day one.

Ahead of the final game of the tour, Stokes had dismissed theories of the departure lounge syndrome but with the way his batters performed, it seemed they were in a hurry to get back home. The attack at all costs approach misfired in India and the debacle has culminated in a lot to ponder before the start of the English summer. For India, the series was a remarkable success considering they had the likes of Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami unavailable throughout.

Apart from Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah also provided crucial contributions with a couple of wickets each. India orchestrated a brilliant comeback in the series after suffering a defeat in the first game and secured it 4-1 with a huge win.

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