England dismissed India for 184 to register a 60-run win in the fourth Test at Southampton and complete the series victory on Sunday, taking an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match contest as Moeen Ali finished with overall figures of 9-134.
England set India a target of 245 in the second innings after being bowled out for 271 early on Day 4 and quickly made inroads before lunch.
Stuart Broad clean bowled KL Rahul for a duck, before James Anderson got his first wickets of the match as he trapped Cheteshwar Pujara (5) leg before wicket and had Shikhar Dhawan (17) caught at slip to leave India at 22-3.
However, a fourth-wicket century stand between Virat Kohli (58) and Ajinkya Rahane (51) moved India within sight of victory and put the pressure back on England.
Not for the first time in the match, Ali responded. England’s off-spinner, who was playing his first match of the series, took the crucial wicket of Kohli just before Tea and ended up with figures of 4-71. India lost their last six wickets for just 61 runs.
Relive the moment when England sealed the series! 🙌🏻#KyaHogaIssBaar #ENGvIND #SPNSports pic.twitter.com/OhsGO0j6yZ
— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) September 2, 2018
Here’s how Twitterati reacted to England’s superb win:
England outspin India in England……didn’t see this coming. Mooen Ali, take a bow 🙇♂️ #ENDvIND
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) September 2, 2018
There is never one factor that decides the result of a Test. But in the final essay the difference between Moeen & Ashwin proved to be the difference between the two sides.#ENGvIND
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) September 2, 2018
From 36 for 4 in the 1st Innings to Win by so many is some performance … Sam Curran deserves a lot of the credit as do all the bowlers who have been outstanding this week .. & the catching 👀#EngvInd
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) September 2, 2018
Fantastic test match ..congratulations England ..virat kohli an absolute standout .and for me Kumara Dharmasena was fantastic in these conditions …best umpire @cricketsrilanka @BCCI @bhogleharsha
— Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) September 2, 2018
Again, what could have been.
Sam Curran made the difference with the bat both in the first test as well as here, but Moeen Ali was the difference between the two sides.— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) September 2, 2018
Like with the series in South Africa, this will go down as what-could-have-been rather than what actually was. Neither South Africa nor England were as good as they have been in the past. But then, maybe, India isn't as good as we believe it to be
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) September 2, 2018
YEEEESSSSS! Well played @englandcricket what a great win! #ENGIND
— Matt Prior (@MattPrior13) September 2, 2018
Brilliant spirit shown through out the series from the boys! Great series win against an outstanding side! #ENDvIND 👌🤛 pic.twitter.com/FgjRIBd8u0
— James Taylor (@jamestaylor20) September 2, 2018
It’s 3-1 England but India have played some excellent cricket
— David 'Bumble' Lloyd (@BumbleCricket) September 2, 2018
Moeen Ali loves playing at Southampton vs India,9 wickets today and 8 in 2014 vs India,had a good overall series vs them in 2014 too,India’s top five underperforming,heavily rely on Kohli to perform.. #ENGvIND
— zainab abbas (@ZAbbasOfficial) September 2, 2018
This is the problem.
Whenever India's GDP looks up, the cricket team loses#ENGvIND #justsaying— Madhavan Narayanan (@madversity) September 2, 2018
series is over, but India can aim for something at the oval. only once has an Indian team won two tests in a series in England, back in 1986…that was a series win of course…#ENGvIND
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) September 2, 2018
4th Test #India bowled out for 184, #England wins the Test and goes up 3-1 in the 5 Test series. #Indian batsmen let us down, while our bowlers are superb. After many, many years best fast bowling line -up, something to be happy about.
— Sreedhar Pillai (@sri50) September 2, 2018
This might have been the 'weakest' England team in some years or whatever, but they deserve to win the series. They've been better than India. #ENGvIND
— Saurabh Somani (@saurabh_42) September 2, 2018
We have to look at Pandya as number 6. Really doesn’t inspire confidence. One good test match isn’t enough. Batting certainly not good enough at 6. And most tests does little with the ball. Jadeja may have been better on this pitch? But this is hindsight.
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) September 2, 2018
From 86 for six on Day 1, India let England just win this Test. Maybe a case of over trying, maybe over experimenting, maybe something else but to let this England batting line up win the series, well, there can be no answers #Southampton #IndvEng
— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) September 2, 2018
The wait continues – the last time India successfully chased a 4th innings target of over 100 runs outside Asia was in December 2003 against Australia #Cricket #ENGvIND
— Saj Sadiq (@SajSadiqCricket) September 2, 2018
