Published: Dec 12, 2016, 06:30 PM (IST)
Edited: Dec 14, 2016, 01:58 PM (IST)
Facing severe flak after conceding a 0-2 lead to India in the third Test at Mohali, England came into the fourth Test at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai with high hopes. Wankhede has been a happy hunting ground for the visitors and they expected a turnaround. It is, after all, the same venue where England levelled the four-Test series in 2012 before stamping their authority in the series. Nonetheless, it seems like Indian cricket team was wary of these facts and wanted to inflict more pain. The script remained the same with England being trounced by an innings and 36 runs. With the series being done and dusted, there is not much the visitors can do. Before signing off for the Christmas break, Alastair Cook and co. will be eager to make it 1-3 and avoid further embarrassment. , Aditya Sahay rates the players from their camp on their meek surrender in Mumbai:
Alastair Cook – 5 out of 10: England’s skipper had a bankable role to emulate if his side wanted to earn their first victory in the tour. Cook called it right at the toss for the third time in the series and elected to bat. It was going to be difficult for the hosts to bat fourth but England still needed runs on board.
Full Cricket Scorecard: India vs England 4th Test at Mumbai
The visitors reached 99 for no loss in the first session inside 26 overs. Cook had a new partner in form of Keaton Jennings and both had settled well in after an hour of play. Cook was batting on 46 off 59 balls making batting look easy. Virat Kohli had his spinners on with Ravindra Jadeja bowling from one end. Cook was looking at his attacking best and stepped out of the crease but could not reach to the pitch of the ball. Parthiv Patel collected the ball chest-high and Cook’s end marked yet another ordinary show. In one way, he threw away a start but gave a good platform to his side on the opening day. He managed up only 18 in the second innings, again being foxed by Jadeja.
His captaincy was average by constantly juggling with spinners and pacers. Nonetheless, the blunder was done long back even when his side had not even stepped onto the field. Playing on a turning track at Wankhede, Cook had misread the nature of the pitch by playing four seamers. Before this Test, they had three spinners in all matches but missed a trick or few by relying on their pace battery.
Keaton Jennings – 8 out of 10: How often does a cricketer score a century in his debut innings? Well, debutants’ preferred opponents are India and Jennings’ name got included in this list, as he became the 14th batsman overall and third Englishman in history after Bryan Valentine (in 1933) and Cook (in 2006) to reach three-figures against the subcontinental side. His footwork looked shaky at the start but one has to give it to him as he must have had butterflies in stomach. Nonetheless, his adaptability against seamers and spinners was at par and seldom looked uncomfortable when pitted against Ravichandran Ashwin and co.
The most striking part of his batting was his unflinching concentration, playing with the full face of the blade and looking fluent with his stroke making. He failed to read the length of the ball in the second innings and was adjudged lbw off Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a golden duck (he is the fourth player in the list to have scored a ton and a golden duck on debut). Nonetheless, one cannot undermine his debut innings and England should be content with his performance, at least.
Joe Root – 7.5 out of 10: England’s mainstay, Root, has been England’s highest run-scorer. He was expected to lead their revival as he has always looked comfortable against Indian bowlers. He reached 21 in the first innings and was beautifully set up by Ashwin. Root played aggressively in the second innings with a positive intent, and it was pleasing to see his ploy of scoring rather than just holding back during a precarious situation his side was in. He reached 77 off just 111 balls with 11 fours but fell in the final session of Day Four, which very much sealed the fate of the match. He also chipped in with two scalps in form of Parthiv Patel and Ashwin to keep his team in the hunt but a Root-special was expected for his side in this must-win encounter.
Moeen Ali – 4.5 out of 10: With a hundred in the series opener at Rajkot, Moeen was deemed to be at his menacing best in Mumbai. He started off with a composed and steady half-century on Day One. Adding a vital 94-run stand with Jennings, he fell for a needless shot against Ashwin. In the second innings, Moeen was set beautifully by Jadeja with fielders starring down his throat from ball one. He succumbed to the trap by giving a low catch to leg slip for third-ball duck.
The first innings needed a bigger impact from Moeen while his second outing demanded an inspiring match-saving innings. Well, it is unfair to have solely expected from the selfless left-hander on a tricky and turning track on Day Four. Nonetheless, he could have stayed for long in his first outing. With the red cherry, Moeen dismissed KL Rahul and Karun Nair but apart from that, he did not get much assistance from the turf or perplexed the Indian batsmen. He bowled a tiring spell of 53-5-174-2.
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Jonny Bairstow – Leave it upto DRS: I have been striving hard (or at least to my knowledge) in CricketCountry for the last 7 months as a writer but I seriously doubt if I am qualified enough to rate England’s ‘honourable’ wicketkeeper-batsman. Let me still try. He scored 14 and followed it with a confident 51 in the second innings. He exhibited good presence of mind against Indian tweakers and looked nonchalant versus the pace battery. Talking about his glove work, where he is quick to review on everything, he was at par. There was nothing extraordinary but he still showed how much he has grown as a batsman, especially batting in a tough situation on the penultimate day.
My verdict: 6.5 out of 10 but Mr. Bairstow, you can always take this upstairs!
Ben Stokes – 4.5 out of 10: Stokes has fared well with the willow but his all-round skills have not churned out as he would have liked. The trend did not change at Wankhede with Stokes piling up 49 runs from two innings and going wicketless on a lifeless track for pacers. He was fairly under-bowled in this Test while his batting was dominated by Ashwin’s mastery. To put things into perspective, Stokes got starts in both innings and should be frustrated for not converting them. It shows he is yet to overcome Ashwin’s class to remain solid on tricky Indian pitches.
Jos Buttler – 7 out of 10: One of the reasons for England’s phenomenal transition in shorter formats is Buttler. He was recalled into the Test arena in the third Test where he showed promising signs. He was retained in the playing XI and scored a valiant 76 to take his side to 400. His innings comprised of calculative risks and alertness in batting with the tail. It was Buttler who gave his team a psychological advantage in the first innings but they failed to make the most of it going forward. On the other hand, by the time he came to bat in the second innings, the writing was pretty much on the wall. There was not much he could have done but his first innings heroics are sure to give him another chance in the series finale.
Chris Woakes – 2 out of 10: Woakes was England’s second seamer in this match but ended up with ordinary figures of 16-2-79-1. He dismissed Kohli when the batsman was going berserk to add on his side’s first-innings-lead. It was more of Kohli’s shifting-of-gears rather than Woakes injecting a wicket for his team. On his batting, Ashwin-Jadeja have made Woakes their bunny who was expected to bat along the tail before the tour commenced. His scores of 11 and 0 (falling to Jadeja and Ashwin respectively) have surely raised eyebrows on his ability to play quality spin. It is amusing as he has been England’s find of the year but has fallen off the ladder on this tour.
Jake Ball – 3 out of 10: Ball’s selection was baffling to say the least. Playing an extra seamer with Stokes already in their line-up exposed England on a turning track. Ball played well for his 31 in the first innings and bowled a gaffer to get rid of in-form batsman Cheteshwar Pujara, but surely, the team management would have wanted more from him. One should feel for the youngster who has had a steady start to his career but will have to blame it on ‘inexperience’ for his ineffective show.
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Adil Rashid – 5 out of 10: Rashid has been the second highest wicket-taker in this series with 22 dismissals. He is only behind the wizard Ashwin (27) but has lacked the ability to inject regular breakthroughs. It is not that England spinners have failed to take wickets but they have given too many runs in process. Rashid’s match figures of 55.3-5-192-4 is not impressive; in fact they are the costliest ever by an English bowler against India. He removed Murali Vijay, Jadeja, Jayant and Bhuvneshwar but could not curb the run flow from his end. His economy of 3.79 is the highest among the top five wicket-takers in the series. Nonetheless, for bowling with a lot of heart and grabbing four scalps, he gets half the marks.
James Anderson- 1 out of 10: If I give England’s most successful pacer 5 out of 10, a separate marks out of 10 will be written on me. After his much-criticised comments on Kohli, social media has gone berserk by coming hard on the 34-year-old. Talking about the match, he remained wicketless and did not contribute with the bat as well. It was a no-show from Anderson and no matter how bad the pitch was for him (or pacers), he should have showed more intensity. His statement, after Day Four, depicted his state of mind where he had already lost the battle to fight it out for his side.
If the leader of the attack shows no steam, there was no way a struggling side will make a comeback. After all, India have come out on top of their opponents after losing the toss which holds great significance in subcontinents. Maybe a lesson to learn for the legendary seamer!
(Aditya Sahay is a journalist with CricketCountry who is completely into sports and loves writing about cricket in general. He can be followed on Twitter at adisahay7)
