NAGPUR (India), Dec 17: England on Monday broke a 28-year-old jinx by achieving a historic Test series win on Indian soil, leaving the hosts embarrassed with a 2-1 verdict in their favour after the fourth and final match ended in a listless draw here.
Centuries from Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell carried England to 352-4 on the fifth and final day at the VCA Stadium here on Monday.
England, starting the day at 161-3, batted India out of the game by making 352-4 in their second innings, when play was called off an hour after tea on the final day.
Trott (143) and Bell (116 not out) took the game away from the hosts by forging a 208-run stand from 94-3 on Sunday. England had made 330 in their first innings and India responded with 326-9 declared.
It was a remarkable comeback for the visitors, who bounced back after a heavy loss in the first Test at Ahmedabad.
The match ended with Gautam Gambhir rolling his arm over for the first time in Tests, demonstrating that India had run out of options.
Trott completed his eighth Test hundred while Bell got his first big score of the series.
If the pitch did no good to India’s cause, their sloppy fielding let them further down. Sehwag was once again caught napping at first slip, dropping Bell off Piyush Chawla. His late reaction to Bell’s cut short led to the slip-up. Sehwag had also dropped Kevin Pietersen on the penultimate day of the game.
England skipper Alastair Cook led from the front and was deservingly picked as the Man-of-the-Series. The southpaw amassed 562 runs at an average of 80.28.
For India, it was their first series loss at home since 2004, when they lost 1-2 to Australia. Despite the defeat, India retained their No 5 position in the latest ICC Test Championship rankings but dropped a rating point to 105, four-points behind Pakistan at fourth position.—Agencies
Scoreboard
ENGLAND (1st Innings) 330 (K.P. Pietersen 73, J.E. Root 73, M.J. Prior 57, G.P. Swann 56, I.J.L. Trott 44; P.P. Chawla 4-69, I. Sharma 3-49). INDIA (1st Innings) 326-9 declared (V. Kohli 103, M.S. Dhoni 99; J.M. Anderson 4-81, G.P. Swann 3-76). ENGLAND (2nd Innings, overnight 161-3): A.N. Cook c Dhoni b Ashwin 13 N.R.D. Compton lbw b Ojha 34 I.J.L. Trott c Kohli b Ashwin 143 K.P. Pietersen b Jadeja 6 I.R. Bell not out 116 J.E. Root not out 20 EXTRAS (B-8, LB-6, NB-6) 20 TOTAL (4 wkts, 154 overs) 352 FALL OF WKTS: 1-48, 2-81, 3-94, 4-302. BOWLING: Sharma 15-3-42-0 (3nb); Ojha 40-14-70-1; Ashwin 38-11-99-2; Chawla 26-6-64-0 (2nb); Jadeja 33-17-59-1 (1nb); Gambhir 2-0-4-0. RESULT: Match drawn. UMPIRES: H.D.P.K. Dharmasena (Sri Lanka) and R.J. Tucker (Australia). TV UMPIRE: S. Ravi (India). MATCH REFEREE: J.J. Crowe (New Zealand). MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: James Anderson. MAN-OF-THE-SERIES: Alastair Cook. FIRST TEST: Ahmedabad, India won by nine wickets. SECOND TEST: Mumbai, England won by 10 wickets. THIRD TEST: Kolkata, England won by seven wickets.
