India v England 5th Test – India Player Ratings

Having already clinched the series 3-0 before going into the final Test, India were on a mission to make it 4-0 at M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The ground staff did a tremendous job to make the conditions suitable to play after Cyclone Vardha. England won yet another toss and decided to bat first. Moeen Ali scored his second hundred of the series and half-centuries from Joe Root, Liam Dawson, and Adil Rashid took them to a strong first innings score of 477. The pitch was dry but wasn’t offering

Moeen Ali scored his second hundred of the series and half-centuries from Joe Root, Liam Dawson, and Adil Rashid took them to a strong first innings score of 477. The pitch was dry but wasn’t offering much turn to the spinners. As a result, India’s premier spinner Ravichandran Ashwin just got one wicket in the innings.

The surface was always good to bat on and India made full use of it as they powered their way to their highest ever Test total of 759. KL Rahul missed out on his maiden double century by just one run. But his fellow statesman Karun Nair created history by becoming the second Indian ever to score a Test triple ton. His supreme efforts helped India gain a massive lead of 282 runs.

England began well in the quest to play out a draw and the openers added 103 runs for the wickets. They did not lose any wickets till the lunch break on the final day. But all hells broke loose once Alastair Cook was picked up by Ravindra Jadeja. They lost 4 wickets in the second session and 6 in the last and all the 10 wickets fell for just 104 runs. India achieved what was looking improbable at one stage.

Here are the players’ ratings of the home side as they completed a 4-0 series win:

KL Rahul – 8.5/10:

The opening batsman from Karnataka was due for a big one after a series of low scores. KL Rahul repaid the faith of his captain by amassing his career best of 199 runs. He came agonizingly close to a well deserved double hundred but fell short by the slightest margin. His innings came off 311 balls that included 16 fours and 3 sixes. He maintained a very good tempo throughout the innings which showed in his strike rate of 63.99.

Along with Parthiv, he had a partnership of 152 runs and laid the foundation for a huge first innings score. There was a mini collapse with the wickets of Parthiv, Pujara, and Kohli but he stayed there and put India into a dominating position. The anxiousness of getting to 200 got to him when he played a loose shot to Adil Rashid on 199 and threw his wicket away. He was very disappointed after getting out and took ages to walk off the field.

Parthiv Patel – 7/10:

In the absence of the regular keeper Widdhiman Saha, Parthiv Patel grabbed the opportunity with both hands. He had played a defining knock in the Mohali Test to see India through in the chase. Here as well, he played a lovely innings of 71 runs with Murali Vijay not being available to open. The southpaw batted in his usual manner of scoring at a steady pace before holding out to Moeen Ali looking to go over the top against the spin.

He needs to be commended for his efforts especially for the fact that he had kept the wickets in the English innings for 157.2 overs and India needed an opener with Vijay hurting his shoulder. He did not shy away from taking up the responsibility despite being in the field for close to 2 days. He might not be picked up in the squad once Saha makes a comeback but he certainly played a vital role in India’s triumph.

Cheteshwar Pujara – 3/10:

The reliable right-hander had played well in the first 3 Tests of the series but lost the plot a bit later. He was dismissed for just 16 runs in the first innings when he hung his bat out to a delivery outside the off stumps off Ben Stokes. Given the nature of the pitch, he would be utterly disappointed having missed out on an opportunity to get another big score.

His recent form though has been superb that has given him his place back in the squad. He scored a total of 401 runs in the 8 innings of the series and ended up being the 3rd highest run-getter. The biggest change in his batting style has been the rate at which he bats now. Earlier he used to get into a shell and found it hard to rotate the strike. But since the New Zealand series, he is scoring freely and getting big runs more often than not.

Virat Kohli – 5/10:

It was one of the rarest occasions that the modern master suffered a low score. He could manage only 15 runs off 29 balls when he drove a leg-cutter from Stuart Broad straight to Keaton Jennings at the covers. Despite a failure, he was the leading run-scorer in the series with 655 runs in 8 innings and stood firm at the pole position, way ahead of the rest and was awarded as the man of the series.

His captaincy was under scrutiny as it was supposed to be his toughest examination since becoming the Test captain. The 28-year-old led the team from the front and filled the troop with aggression. The way he captained on the last day of the Test was simply magnificent. He kept chopping and changing and did not allow the batsmen to settle after the lunch break. The decision to take the second new ball turned out to be a masterstroke as 3 wickets fell in quick succession post that.

Karun Nair – 9.5/10:

The youngster from Karnataka had the time of his life as he became the first ever Indian to convert the maiden century into a triple century. He became only the second Indian to score 300 after Virender Sehwag and also made the third highest score for India in Tests. He scored 303 runs unbeaten off 381 balls with 32 fours and 4 sixes. There could not have been a better start for him in the Test career. He was adjudged the man of the match for a tremendous innings.

He was absolutely brilliant with the kind of pace he batted at. He reached 100, 200 and 300 on the 4th day itself. The way he batted after getting to a hundred was game changing. He stepped on the accelerator and kept sending the ball to the boundary on a consistent basis. His quickfire innings assisted India to gain a lead that was enough to ensure that they did not have to bat again in the game. With the marvelous innings, he has made a strong case for himself to be a regular member of the playing XI.

Murali Vijay – 4/10:

He was unlucky to have sustained a shoulder injury during fielding. Vijay fell abruptly on his left shoulder while diving to stop the ball. It meant that he had to leave the field and did not return for a long time. Though the injury was classified as an external injury but he spent some time out of play and thus couldn’t bat before No.5.

He came out to bat at number 6 when the score was 372/4. The injury seemed to have eased out as he didn’t look in any discomfort. But batting at an irregular position did not bring fortunes for him as he was sent back at a low score of 29 runs by Liam Dawson. He was involved in a decent partnership of 63 runs for the 5th wicket with Karun Nair.

Ravichandran Ashwin – 6/10:

The records will show that local boy picked only 1 wicket in the game, but those do not reflect the kind of effort he put in. In the first innings, there was not much assistance for the spinners, but he toiled hard for 44 overs and managed to bag the wicket of Ben Stokes. On the last day, he bowled some unplayable deliveries to the English openers but was unfortunate not to pick up any wickets and also, Alastair Cook was dropped by Parthiv off his bowling.

His contributions with the bat in the series have been very crucial and he turned with another half-century on his home ground. He made 67 runs batting at number 7 and added 181 runs for the 6th wicket with Karun. He scored a total of 306 runs in the series to go with 28 wickets with the ball. The number one Test bowler and the all-rounder in the world did his reputation no harm with outstanding performances in the series.

Ravindra Jadeja – 9/10:

The left-arm spinner led the attack and picked up the most number of wickets in both innings. On an unresponsive first innings pitch, he bowled 45 overs and went for just 2.36 runs per over to bag 3 wickets. With the bat, he scored a useful half-century batting at number 8. His innings of 51 runs off 55 balls played the perfect foil for Karun at the other end.

His major contribution came with the ball in the second innings when he grabbed 7 wickets for just 48 runs. The pitch still did not provide too much support for him but his lines and lengths were immaculate that kept the pressure on the batsmen. Fittingly, he got the last wicket of the series in the form of Jake Ball that won India the game. With Ashwin not picking up wickets, it is fair to say that it was Jadeja’s Test match.

Umesh Yadav – 6/10:

Bowling on Indian pitches is a very difficult task for any fast bowler and even more so to do it over the course of 5 Tests. It is quite easy to lose hope in such a long duration but Umesh did not let the intensity down for even a minute. He kept running in for each delivery bowled over 140 clicks consistently. He put in complete efforts every time he was called into bowl by Kohli.

In this match, he bowled superb bouncers at Moeen Ali in the first innings that led to his downfall and ended with 2 wickets in the innings. On the final day again, his bouncers troubled every batsman. He picked up the wicket of Adil Rashid off the very first ball that he bowled with the second new ball. He has definitely become a regular pacer for India in any conditions.

Amit Mishra – 3/10:

The leg-spinner looked completely out of the zone in the match. He had played in the first Test at Rajkot but a poor performance gave way to Jayant Yadav in the side who made the most of it and kept Mishra on the bench. An injury to Jayant brought him back in the side but still he was nowhere close to being his best. He was bowling too full or too short and the English batsmen were untroubled against him.

He might argue that the two surfaces that he got to ball in Rajkot and Chennai were the least helpful for the spinners but the way he has bowled in the past was nowhere to be seen. He picked up a wicket in both innings of the last match off the googly but didn’t use it enough. With this performance he certainly cannot keep Jayant out of the team.

Ishant Sharma – 6/10:

The tall fast bowler used to be the leader of the bowling attack but was sidelined due to bad health. Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav in his absence bowled beautifully and did not allow him to get into the team. Bhuwneshwar Kumar was picked in the last game after Shami suffered an injury. But he did not make a mark and it meant that Ishant was in the side after a long gap.

He made a superb start in the first innings when he dismissed Keaton Jennings in the 6th over. Ishant pushed him back with a series of short balls and then threw one up that trapped the batsman into driving and gave an easy catch to the keeper. He then trapped Jos Buttler in front to bag his second wicket. In the second innings as well, he played his part by removing the gritty Jonny Bairstow for just 1 run.