India 477 (Gill 110, Rohit 103, Padikkal 65, Sarfaraz 56, Bashir 5-170) beat England 218 and 195 (Root 84, Ashwin 5-77) by an innings and 64 runs
It ended in an avalanche of wickets in the foothills of the Himalayas, as England’s bid to scale the heights on their tour of India descended into the depths of an innings defeat in Dharamsala, and an ignominious 4-1 sequence scoreline that – on this closing, sorry proof, if not the feistier fare that had preceded it – was an apt reflection of the enduring gulf between the perimeters.
At the least James Anderson scaled his personal peak, claiming his 700th Test wicket in the day’s opening exchanges, to obtain an altitude that absolutely no different seam bowler will ever problem. However it was left to one other of Test cricket’s most enduring performers to put his private seal on a landmark contest, as R Ashwin – in his 100th Test – took his personal tally to 516 and counting, with 5 for 77, his thirty sixth five-wicket haul, as victory was sealed inside two classes on the third afternoon.
