The visiting England team will now spend their free time ahead of the fifth Dharamsala Test in Bengaluru and Chandigarh. The fifth Test begins on March 7 and the England team has almost a week before the fifth and final Test match.
India won the fourth Test in Ranchi by five wickets and won the series in the process. Interestingly, all the Test matches in the series so far have ended on the fourth day. India started day 4 with 40 unbeaten and won the match within the first two sessions with Dhruv Jurel and Shubman Gill’s unbeaten 72-run stand winning the game for India.
India went from 84/1 to 120/5 and was in a bind before the Gill Trevally This stance led India to victory. The victory was conclusive enough as it earned India another victory in the test series against England at home.
England will arrive in Dharamsala on March 4
England had their preparatory camp in Abu Dhabi before the Test series against India began. However, they have chosen to stay in the country before the fifth test that closes the series. The players have chosen to spend their break between Bengaluru and Chandigarh.
“The team will be split between Chandigarh and Bengaluru ahead of the fifth Test. It is unlikely that they will score the nets during the break. The team arrives in Dharamsala about three days before the test (March 4).” an ECB source told PTI.
India has consolidated the second position in the WTC points table. New Zealand leads the points table with 75.0 PTC. India comes second with a PTC of 64.58. Australia is in last place, while England is in eighth place in the table.
This is the first Test series England have lost under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum. This is also the first time they have lost three Test matches in a row. This was India’s seventh Test series win in the last 20-odd years when they trailed in a Test series and India’s 17th consecutive Test series. They have drawn three games and have not lost any under this condition.
“It has certainly been a close series and to be on the right side at the end of four Test matches feels really good. Really proud of everyone in the locker room. There were a lot of challenges that were posed to us, but I think we responded pretty well. We had different challenges in different test matches and I thought we were pretty calm in what we wanted to achieve and what we wanted to do on the field, very happy. It clearly tells me that they (the youngsters) want to be here, all the hard work they have done in the past, playing domestic cricket and performing there, coming here is a big challenge, but when I look at them, I talk to them and the responses they receipt from them are quite encouraging.” said Indian captain Rohit Sharma after the Test victory.
Also Read: “Joe Root scored a hundred, Jurel scored 90” – Rohit Sharma defends Ranchi pitch after Test series win over England