On this day in 2016 – India complete a whitewash over England at home
Fresh after becoming the No.1 ranked Test team under Virat Kohli’s captaincy, India took on England in a 5-match Test series at home. England held the fort in the first Test hosted by Rajkot where they had the advantage but the game ended in a draw.
The series moved to Vizag where captain Virat Kohli scored 167 and 81 runs respectively to see India through to a huge 246-run win. India won the third Test in Mohali by 8 wickets. India confirmed their series victory at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai which stood host for the 4th match. Ravichandran Ashwin bagged six wickets in both innings while Virat Kohli smashed a record-breaking 235 as India won the game by an innings and 36 runs.
Nair’s record knock:
The two sides moved to Chennai for the series finale at the Chepauk Stadium. Moeen Ali smashed 146 in the first innings as England finished with 477. KL Rahul starred with the bat by scoring 199 before getting out to Adil Rashid. India went to stumps at 391/4.
Karun Nair, who came into the series as a replacement for vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane, scored unbeaten 71 by the end of the 3rd day. Nair converted his maiden Test fifty into a hundred by lunch and was set for an even bigger knock. By Tea interval, Nair got to an unbeaten 195 and eventually reached the 200-run mark in 306 balls. He ended up with an unbeaten 303 from 381 balls as India piled their highest total in Test cricket of 759/7. Nair got his last 100 runs in just 75 balls where he struck 9 fours and 3 sixes.
#OnThisDay in 2016, India completed a 4-0 Test series win over England!
Ravindra Jadeja picked up his maiden ten-wicket match haul as ?? won by an innings and 75 runs in the final Test in Chennai pic.twitter.com/DTB0XbT1Hi
— @Rakesh (@Rakesh5_) December 20, 2020
Jadeja turns the game around:
The match was heading towards a draw as England openers got 97 runs without losing a wicket by lunch on the final day. Jadeja provided the breakthrough by sending back England captain Alastair Cook. He also sent back Keaton Jennings and Joe Root in quick space while Ishant Sharma got the better of Jonny Bairstow to leave England reeling at 129/4.
All-round Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes added 63 for the 5th wicket in 19 overs but both the players were sent back by Jadeja in successive overs shortly after the Tea interval. England were eight wickets down for 205/8 going into the final hour of the match. The duo of Buttler and Stuart Broad survived five overs before Jadeja turned out to be the strike bowler for India.
Broad walked off after edging one to short-leg fielder before the no.11 batter Jake Ball was caught by close catcher Nair to wrap up the series. It was Jadeja’s 7th wicket of the innings with the help of wicket he compiled his maiden 10-wicket match haul. Jadeja scored a fifty and also claimed four catches alongside the 10 wickets to help India complete a series win with a margin of 4-0. It was just the 2nd time India won as many as four matches in a Test series (Also won 4-0 vs Australia at home in 2013).
