India conquered Bazball to make it 17 Test Series wins in a row at Home

India held a 2-1 lead in the Test Series going into the all-important 4th Test at Ranchi. They had rested their star bowler Jasprit Bumrah and were still without senior batter KL Rahul. When asked about his thoughts on the pitch one day before the Test, Ben Stokes, the England captain, said,

"I don't know, I've never seen something like that before, so I have got no idea [how it might play]. I don't know what could happen."

The stage was set. The wicket was termed "interesting". England won the toss and, as is customary in India, decided to bat first. The first session belonged to India's debutant fast bowler Akash Deep. He sent Zak Crawley's off stump cartwheeling only for it to be ruled a no-ball. That didn't faze him, he continued bowling in the right areas, in and around the off stump, and got the breakthrough when Duckett edged one to Jurel. In the same over, he got Ollie Pope trapped in front and India reviewed brilliantly to get the umpire's decision overturned. Soon after, he got one to nip back in again and cut Crawley in half & hit the top of middle.

England were left reeling at 112/5 at Lunch on Day 1. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Joe Root, England's best batsman, stepped up to the plate and played one of his classic knocks after struggling throughout the series. He had been severely criticized after he got out reverse scooping Jasprit Bumrah in the previous match. This time around, he was back to his best and played proper cricket shots, playing the ball late and not trying too hard to put the pressure back on India.

Root scored a fantastic 122* & with contributions from Ben Foakes (47) & Ollie Robinson (58), England ended their first innings with 353 on the board. England lost their last three wickets for just six runs. However, they would still have been happy with their score, given they were 112/5 and the pitch appeared to be deteriorating.

Jimmy Anderson, like he usually does, gave England the early breakthrough by dismissing India's captain Rohit Sharma in the third over. India's young guns Jaiswal & Gill consolidated and put together a partnership of 82 before Shoaib Bashir, in only his second test, ran through India's middle order. He bowled 31 overs on the trot and picked up 4 wickets conceding just 83 runs. He bowled 33% of his deliveries just outside the off stump on a good length, forcing batsmen to play at them which caused a lot of problems.

India trailed England by 176 runs at 177/7, hinting at a massive first innings lead for England but India's young wicket-keeper, Dhruv Jurel in his second Test match along with No.9 Kuldeep Yadav kept believing. They stitched together a 76-run partnership facing more than 200 balls.

Dhruv Jurel played an inning of two halves. With Kuldeep, he scored 38 runs off 71 balls which included 24 singles, 2 fours & 1 six. Once Kuldeep got out, he switched gears & smashed 41 runs in just 54 balls including only 9 singles, 3 fours & 3 sixes.

Jurel scored 90 before getting bowled, missing his first century by just 10 runs. His contribution helped India reach 307, just 46 runs behind England. With the momentum on their side, Rohit Sharma opened the innings with Ashwin and Jadeja for the first time in the series. In the 5th over, Ashwin got Duckett caught at short leg and trapped Pope in front of the very next ball. Pope caught a pair and England was 19/2 after 5 overs.

The ever-consistent Crawley along with first innings centurion Root didn't get bogged down. Crawley smashed 3 fours in the 9th over to swing the momentum back towards England. After 16 overs, England was 64/2 with an additional lead of 46 from the first innings, the game was slipping away from India. Ashwin from round the wicket bowls a full ball on leg, the ball spins to beat Root's attempted flick and hits the pads. India appeal but the umpire says Not Out. India review, and by the barest of margins, it's all three reds on review & Root is gone.

Jonny Bairstow, who had been struggling to score runs in this series, joined Crawley and the pair continued to score briskly. They scored 45 runs in just 67 balls and took England's lead past 150. Rohit Sharma, in need of another wicket, turned to Kuldeep Yadav, the left-arm wrist spinner. Yadav responded to the call and provided the breakthrough by spinning a ball from outside off, which deceived Crawley. The batsman was completely beaten as he tried to push off the back foot, and this opened the floodgates.

England collapsed from 110/3 to 145 all out. Kuldeep took 4 wickets for 22 runs in 15 overs and Ashwin got a fifer in 15.5 overs for 51 runs. The legendary Indian spinners had finally arrived. All the opponent sides have gone through such collapses over the past 10 years, but this was the first time the Indian spinners had picked up all 10 wickets in this series.

India was back in the game, chasing 192 to win, but first, they had to face a tricky half-hour at the end of Day 3. England started with Joe Root & Tom Hartley. Root, a part-time spinner & Hartley playing his debut series didn't have much experience bowling with the new ball & it showed. They bowled too full & allowed India to get off to a flyer scoring 40/0 in just 8 overs to end Day 3. India needed just 152 to win with all 10 wickets left and were comfortably in the driver's seat.

At the start of Day 4, India again got off to a quick start scoring 43/0 in just 9 overs including 5 fours & 1 six. They needed just 109 runs to win and looked set to cruise to victory. Stokes knew he had to try something different, so he called upon Joe Root, the man with the golden arm. Root from round the wicket, tossed it up very full tempting the Indian batters to go for a big shot. Jaiswal took the bait & tried to smash Root over cover for six but the ball spun sharply to take the outside edge and lobbed up straight to Jimmy Anderson at short third man for a simple catch. England got their breakthrough and now it was time to attack.

Rohit tried to stay positive but he stepped out to a flatter ball way outside off stump which spun and took the outside edge to Foakes. The inexperienced Indian batting line-up was under pressure. Instead of staying positive and playing their natural game, they tried to block their way out of trouble but that was never going to work. India collapsed from 99/1 to 120/5, still needing 72 runs to win.

England was right back in the game, or so they thought. India's first-innings saviour, Jurel walked in to accompany Gill and immediately showed positive intent. The pair began stepping out and knocking the ball around in gaps to rotate strike. Both of them looked solid in defence, picked the length early, and went on the front foot or back foot with conviction. They combined for a match-winning partnership of 72 runs from 136 balls which included 36 singles, 8 doubles, 2 fours & 2 sixes. Gill scored a fantastic 52* off 124 balls & Jurel contributed again with 39* off 77 balls.

Jurel fittingly scores the winning runs for India, sealing the series 3-1. This marks India's 17th consecutive Test Series win at home, the most by any team. A remarkable comeback after trailing by 176 runs with only 3 wickets left in the first innings, finishing with a 5-wicket win. India, without many of their star players like Virat Kohli, Mohammed Shami, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul (missed 3 games), Jasprit Bumrah (rested for this game), Ravindra Jadeja (missed 2nd Test) have conquered Bazball for the first time. This is the first series defeat for McCullum & Stokes' Test Team but they have competed fiercely, pushing India right until the end.

England still has a chance to make the scoreline 3-2 by winning the last Test in Dharamshala. However, if India wins the last Test, England will lose the series 4-1, which will be a big blow to Bazball. There are also some predictions of snow (yes, snow!) in Dharamshala, which might affect the game and prevent a full match. Despite that, there is still a lot at stake in this series as the teams head up north for the final Test on March 7th.