Moeen Ali removed both Virat Koli and Ajinkya Rahane from the crease.
England's Moeen Ali (Photo: AFP)
England cricket team won the fourth Test match against India by 60 runs at the Rose Bowl Cricket Stadium and in the process took an unassailable lead of 3-1 in the ongoing five-match series.
On Day Four of the fourth Test match, India bowled out England for a score of 271 runs giving them a lead of 245 runs. When the fourth innings started, the target of 245 runs seemed chaseable, but the English duo of Stuart Broad and James Anderson denied India the perfect start by sharing three wickets in 9 overs.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli and vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane later stabilised India innings and put up a 101-run stand for the fourth wicket. English all-rounder Moeen Ali removed both Virat Koli and Ajinkya Rahane from the crease. And after Rahane’s wicket, the visitors’ batting order simply collapsed.
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Though the English duo of James Anderson and Stuart Broad were not as effective as Moeen Ali in the fourth innings of the fourth Test match, they played small yet a significant role in England’s win.
Broad and Anderson made the platform for Moeen Ali to bowl freely by dismantling India’s upper order batting. Had the Indian openers given the team even a 50-run stand, the situation would have been completely different.
Stuart Broad gave England its first breakthrough by removing KL Rahul from the attack in the fourth over and Anderson removed the ‘mighty’ Cheteshwar Pujara in the seventh over. Shikhar Dhawan was not able to do much as Anderson got his edge and Ben Stokes took a perfect catch to remove him.
After Stuart Broad and James Anderson dismantled India’s upper order, Indian captain Virat Kohli and his deputy Ajinkya Rahane made the valiant attempt to lift the team up by putting up a 101-run stand. However, it went in vain.
On Sunday, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane put up a brilliant partnership for the fourth wicket to take India forward and they were even able to frustrate the English bowlers with their blocking.
When Kohli and Rahane were batting, there was still a hope in the Indian camp that they can win the match and take the series to the decider. However, English all-rounder Moeen Ali shattered this hope, first by sending Virat Kohli back and then removing his deputy.
In the fourth Test match, English spinner Moeen Ali made R Ashwin, India’s spin wizard, look like an ordinary bowler.
Moeen Ali was the major difference between India and England in both the innings. In the first Innings, he scored 40 runs and then bagged five-wickets. He followed up his brilliance by taking four wickets in the fourth innings.
Moeen Ali’s four wickets in the fourth innings also included that of India’s captain and vice-captain.
On the other hand, India’s spin wizard R Ashwin was not able to do much damage to England despite the fact that the pitch was supporting spinners. R Ashwin bagged one wicket and conceded 84 runs in his 38 overs in the second innings.
Skipper Virat Kohli always prefers to play five bowlers in the hope of taking 20 wickets in every Test match. Though Virat Kohli’s tactics so far has been successful with bowlers doing exceptionally well, it has left the lower order batting vulnerable.
On Sunday, India’s batting ended when Ajinkya Rahane was dismissed by Moeen Ali in the 70th over. After yet another batting collapse, it’s high time India look to play an additional batsman and dropping one of the pacers to strengthen the batting unit.
In the fourth Test match, all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who was also the star in India’s win in the third Test match, proved to be a major disappointment.
Hardik Pandya took just one wicket and scored 4 runs in the first and second innings, respectively. In the third and fourth, he went wicketless and duck, respectively.
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