England suffered a miserable 4-0 series defeat in India after an untimely batting collapse gave the home side the impetus to snatch victory on the final day of the fifth Test when a draw had looked on the cards. Despite the nature of the loss, the tourists’ disappointed captain Alastair Cook said “now is not the time” for a decision about his future as England captain.
The tourists hit trouble with the loss of four wickets for 26 runs as they tried to battle for a draw at the MA Chidambaram Stadium before losing a further six wickets for 15 runs to confirm defeat.
Cook (49) and Keaton Jennings (54) calmed the tourists’ nerves by guiding them through a wicketless first session but the introduction of Ravindra Jadeja, who finished with seven for 48 to bring up 10 wickets for the match, first did for the England captain, for the sixth time in the series, and then accounted for Jennings and Joe Root, too.
The Indian could not stay out of the action and for good measure then took an outstanding catch running back from midwicket to collect Jonny Bairstow’s flick off Ishant Sharma and made it 129 for four.
Despite the best efforts of Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes, who showed some much-needed composure to reach 167 without further loss at tea, England could not hold their nerve and fell to a dispiriting defeat by an innings and 75 runs.
Cook added: “India are a better team here and they deserved to win. We tried as hard as we can but it wasn’t good enough. Credit to Virat [Kohli] and the team – they’ve outplayed us.”
Online Source: The Guardian
