India v England, 5th Test Day Five: Five Things We Learned

MAN OF THE DAY – Ravi Jadeja (7-48) 

As always, one man reaps it in when England fall in a heap and that man was Ravi Jadeja. After he was gifted a few wickets (more on that later), he got into a groove and picked apart the touring rabble to take career-best figures of seven for 48. It truly was an all-action performance from Jadeja: along with his 10 wickets, his 51 runs in India’s innings and four catches in the match is a haul not matched by anyone in Test cricket since 1892. With his salvo today, he added the gloss on a run that now sees India unbeaten in 18 Tests. He also leaves the series knowing he was all over Alastair Cook like a rash, removing six times fo the concession of just 75 runs.

OMNISHAMBLES

Where to begin. To underline just how stupendous England’s collapse was, consider this: their first seven wickets today fell in the space of 36 overs. The previous seven in the match had taken 240 overs. For the second Test in a row, England scored 400 and then lost by an innings, with today’s capitulation meaning the tourists leave with the record for the most runs score in the first innings that resulted in an innings-defeat. Worse still, England lose 4-0 in an Indian Test series in which they won four tosses: four opportunities to scope the game, four chances to put down a marker earlier and bat themselves out of realms of defeat. They spurned all four of them. Their top order dismissals today were all self-inflicted and, when Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes looked to have negotiated their way to some form of safety, abhorrent shots reopened the door and in rushed ineptitude.

ALASTAIR COOKED

Seeing Cook, bags under his eyes, wearily cycling through answers to explain the harrowing nature of this and other defeats – it spoke of a man who needs a physical and mental break from the rigours of captaincy. Will it it a permanent one? That remains to be seen. Cook is due to meet the director of English cricket Andrew Strauss on January 9th to discuss for a tour debrief and to discuss his future. The decision may well be taken out of his hands – even if it is dressed up as a decision of Cook’s making – but eight defeats in 2016 (14 since the start of 2015) shows that any progress under his stewardship has been limited.

CRUMB OF COMFORT

The dismissal was peculiar – teeing the ball up on the half-volley before bunting it back to Ravi Jadeja – but a second solid score and Keaton Jennings (54) leaves a series he was parachuted into with a good deal of credit. In the grand scheme of things, this ranks quite low on the list of things that need to be addressed, but it does at least mean England leave India with one problem addressed. Expect either him or Haseeb Hameed to drop to number three, with Joe Root pushed back to four. 

WHAT NEXT 

Some finger pointing and licking of wounds. Truth be told, many fans and commentators were expecting a shellacking, and that’s exactly what England got. As ever, it is the manner of the defeats that jars: the iffy selections and grim collapses. Trevor Bayliss will have a lot to think about, not least his own position. While he should not be sacked, he should look to 2017 as the year for him to take more control of a team in desperate need of moulding. England are far too hot and cold and Bayliss’ hands-off approach, while successful in parts, will only lead to further inconsistent results. For a start, he could do with watching a lot more county cricket. In 18-months of the job, he is still unaware of some of its top performers.