India vs England: In a famous series win, Shubman Gill shows growing maturity, Dhruv Jurel comes up with another invaluable knock

Turning back for the double, Dhruv Jurel raised his bats and jumped in the air. His partner Shubman Gill roared in joy. He was just halfway through the second run. But he knew he would complete it and that India would wrap up the series 3- 1 in Ranchi.

No one perhaps deserved to hit the winning run more than Jurel, whose 90 and 39 not out are invaluable contributions to the five-wicket win. The first effort gave India a foothold in the match, the second finished the game, in the company of Shubman Gill, his maturity swelling manifold this series.

In the dressing room, their teammates, tense until an hour ago, heaved a sigh of relief. Rohit Sharma, his hands folded as though in a silent prayer, embraced his teammates. Coach Rahul Dravid, flashing a broad smile, kept applauding their effort. The rest would just barge into the ground to congratulate Gill and Jurel, whose 72-run stand defined the day, and completed India’s 17th straight series triumph at home.

This seemed the sweetest of India’s series wins in recent times. Without Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami, a batting line-up in transition, a game down in the series, they fought back surviving several scares and mini heartbreaks. Here on Monday, they found themselves 120 for 5 two balls into the second over after lunch. But with icy veins and steely nerves, Gill and Jurel steered India past the grenades and mines the pitch threw.

England’s bowler Shoaib Bashir celebrates the wicket of India’s batter Sarfaraz Khan during the fourth day of the fourth Test cricket match between India and England, in Ranchi. (PTI)

As the target drew closer, England’s hopes withered. There was less chatter, less mid-pitch brainstorming. In desperate tones, they appealed for anything and everything. Then, they stopped appealing altogether, as though the fate was irrevocable. The frontier that is India is daunting. It’s for the dearth of talent or ideas that teams lose in India. It’s because India are simply unbreakable at home.

A grand ambition lay in tatters for England. But the 3-1 scoreline betrays. England teased and tested India harder than most other teams that had landed on these vast and hostile shores dreaming of winning a series in the last decade. Perhaps, Steve Smith’s Australia had come the closest. But inevitably, like sunrise and sunset, like sun and moon, India fight back.

Ben Stokes’s brave men tried as best as they could to resist the unavoidable. They tried, they thrilled, they fought, but India remained unconquered, as it had to Steve Smith and Pat Cummins, Kane Williamson and Joe Root, Faf du Plessis and Hashim Amla. Only four England captains could brag about winning a series in India—only two among them are alive—and Stokes would not be the fifth.

England’s Shoaib Bashir reacts. (Reuters)

The match, though, would not refuse to end without drama, an hour either side of lunch. It was progressing smoothly for India until Yashasvi Jaiswal perished before the drinks break in the first session. Like often, James Anderson provided the moment. He, standing at short third man, sprung his 41-year-old frame at the plunging catch, off Jaiswal’s bat, to give England the first breakthrough of the morning. As content as they would have been to see the scorer of 655 runs stagger to the pavilion, India had already piled up 84 runs. England needed more such moments to ignite the flickers of hope.

But it seemed nothing more than a stray wicket against the run of play. The pitch was yet to throw a demon of deadly nature. Batting was hard but not torturous. Then it would all change. The first ball that really misbehaved came in the second over after the drinks break, Hartley’s stock ball sneezed past his forward defensive push off Shubman Gill. The dropping voices picked up. A fuse of hope emerged. Sometimes, it takes just a ball to change perceptions, to move from being utterly confident to totally sceptical.

In his next over, in a single splendid note of bowling, Hartley transformed the mood of his colleagues, the crowd and the game. Rohit wandered out, as he often does. But this time he telegraphed his intentions prematurely—perhaps the Gill ball was playing in his mind, perhaps Jaiswal’s departure had pressured him. This time, he was hastier, the feet not-so-twinkling. The ball, imparted with massive revs, deceived him in the air, dragged him into a nowhere zone and the turn invariably beat his off-balanced defensive push. Ben Foakes whipped off the bails in a flash and ran in glee. Foakes needn’t have stumped him, for Rohit has nicked the ball ever-so-slightly and the ‘keeper had pocketed the catch before initiating the stumping.

India’s batter Dhruv Jurel plays a shot during the fourth day of the fourth Test cricket match between India and England, in Ranchi. (PTI)

A run later, Rajat Patidar didn’t prolong his ordeal further as he thrust his hard hands at a ball that spun hard and bounced to take the edge to Ollie Pope at short-leg. Test cricket has been unkind to him, rather it has exposed the glaring inadequacies of Patidar, his technique woefully short of Test standards. A batsman raised on turners showed little aptitude in dealing with the spinning ball. Ravindra Jadeja and Shubman Gill rode India to safety till lunch.

Upon resumption, it all went awry for India. In the second over, Jadeja clipped a benign full toss from Shoaib Bashir to mid-wicket and walked back cursing himself. Sarfaraz Khan, in a tribute to Patidar, pressed his bat blindly at a Bashir off-break that spun and bounced and feathered the ball to short-leg. Hard hands, leaden feet.
It was an hour of frenzy. But England could not defy the inevitability of India winning another series at home, as inescapable as day and night, the sun and moon.

Brief scores

England: 353 and 145

India: 307 and 192/5 in 61 overs (Rohit Sharma 55, Shubman Gill 52 not out, Dhruv Jurel 39 not out, Yashasvi Jaiswal 37; Shoaib Bashir 3/79).

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