Team India are facing the ignominy yet another series whitewash as they faced a crushing defeat of an innings and 54 runs at the hands of England at Old Trafford.
Team India are facing the ignominy yet another series whitewash as they faced a crushing defeat of an innings and 54 runs at the hands of England at Old Trafford.
Even without the first innings star, Stuart Broad, who is out injured after being hit on the head by a Varun Aaron bouncer, spinner Moeen Ali and James Anderson crushed the visitors.
India suffered their second spectacular collapse of the match in losing nine wickets after tea on the third day — including five for 13 as Alastair Cook’s men go 2-1 up in the series.
It was yet another Moeen Ali show, whose six for 67 sealed England’s 266-run win in the third Test at Southampton, followed it up with another magical spell taking four for 39 in a superb team effort.
India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has a lot of questions to ponder upon. If India loses the final Test at Oval, it could be a hat trick of defeats for India and Dhoni and the latter could come under the wrath of facing the axe.
The Indian skipper admitted to the mistakes made by the top order batsman, was the key point in the downfall.
Dhoni stated, “Even in the first innings, we weren’t up to the mark. We have to improve before the next Test. So far in this series, our batting has not clicked.” From eight for 4 in the first innings to 66 for six in the second, India has awakened the ghosts of 2011.
India’s quality batsman, Virat Kohli saw his miserable tour continue as, on seven, he edged Anderson and made way back to pavilion. That left the Delhi batsman with a tally of just 108 runs in eight innings this series at an average of 13.50.
The only parity in the Indian batting card was Ravichandran Ashwin, who top-scored with 46 not out.
Besides Pankaj Singh’s two wickets and Varun Aaron’s pace, India hardly had a sniff into the Test match.
Let alone the defeat, the manner in which it comes will be more embarrassing for MS Dhoni. His team lasted 89.5 overs in the Test match and was whitewashed in over 2 and half days. Zimbabwe did a better job at hand against South Africa than the Indians have done here.
The victory at Lord’s seems to be achieved in some parallel universe as MS Dhoni’s Indian team have a lot to think on. Two crushing defeats might just not go down well in the dressing room whereas England has all to cheer on.
As heads roll over to Oval, will this be the FINAL Test as skipper for Dhoni?
A lot of questions at stake for now.
