England suffer humiliating defeat by India in fifth Test after losing all 10 wickets for 104 runs to lose series 4-0

England’s winter of sub-continental misery was given a fitting end as a second successive innings defeat saw them slump to a humiliating 4-0 series loss against India.

Alastair Cook’s side lost all 10 second-innings wickets for 104 runs as Ravindra Jadeja took a career-best seven for 48 and two catches to hurry the tourists to a crushing reversal that raises even more doubts over Cook’s future as captain.

India plundered 759 for seven declared on day four, the most runs England have conceded in a single Test innings.

Karun Nair’s unbeaten 303 earned him the man of the match award. Indeed, he made 96 more runs alone than England managed in their entire second innings.

What makes things worse is England were 103 without loss in the afternoon session.

But they lost by an innings and 75 runs after their final six wickets fell for 15 runs in the evening session.

There is no way the tourists should have even flirted with defeat on a pitch that saw India rack up a record 759 for seven declared. It was a brutal reality check for this promising team, who are now fifth in the latest Test rankings.

In Mumbai, England became only the third side in Test history to lose by an innings after posting 400 or more in their first innings.

Their humiliation is now complete after managing that dubious feat for the second time in eight days later.

This match, and tour, has had the feel of England’s last great overseas humiliation, the 2013-14 Ashes whitewash in Australia.

open image in gallery

In Sydney they lost inside three days. After the flogging they suffered in the field here and the collapse today, this joins that SCG surrender in England’s hall of shame.

Cook’s men, who had resumed on 12 without loss, enjoyed a serene morning as openers Cook and Keaton Jennings guided their side to 97 without loss.

There were two scares. Cook was dropped on four by wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel off the bowling of Ravichandran Ashwin and then Jennings on 31 at short leg off Amit Mishra’s leg spin.

Those scares were to prove warning signs as the tourists flirted with danger by losing four wickets in the first hour after lunch.

Cook was the first to go in the third over after lunch, walking across his crease to Jadeja and guiding a ball he should have left to leg slip. England’s captain had made 49 and his side were now 103 for one.

It was the sixth time this series the India left-arm spinner had dismissed Cook – the most times any bowler has claimed his wicket in a single series.

That became 129 for four before the mid-session drinks break, with Jadeja picking up two more scalps. Jennings, coming down the wicket to plonk a simple return catch to the bowler, was next.

Joe Root was then trapped lbw on review after missing the ball attempting to sweep.

open image in gallery

Jonny Bairstow followed, the wicketkeeper falling for one after flicking Ishant Sharma into the legside and man of the moment Jadeja taking a brilliant running catch over his shoulder.

Both Root and Bairstow had missed out on surpassing Michael Vaughan’s record for the most Test runs by an England player in a calendar year. Root was four short of Vaughan’s mark of 1481 set in 2002 after being dismissed for six. Bairstow ended up 12 shy of eclipsing the landmark.

Those individual landmarks, though, were sideshows to the main event, England, losing four for 26 in that mini-collapse, finding themselves in the precarious position of 166 for four at tea.

With 31 overs remaining in the final session, saving the game was not beyond Cook’s side.

However, they batted like rabbits in the headlights once they lost Moeen Ali for 44.

Moeen, dropped on 42, had batted frenetically anyway and was looking increasingly susceptible to the short ball. He also lacks the discipline to prosper in the top six and that was all too evident when he heaved Jadeja to Ashwin at mid-on.

England, now 192 for five, were in freefall.

open image in gallery

Surrender is a strong word but it is apt for what happened in the next nine overs as Cook’s men slipped to 200 for eight.

Ben Stokes, two overs after Moeen’s departure, became Jadeja’s fifth wicket when he sent a leading edge to midwicket.

Liam Dawson, whose 66 had helped get England above 400 in their first innings, was next on the conveyor belt of ineptitude when he was bowled by Mishra’s googly.

Adil Rashid then fell victim to the first delivery with the second new ball when he sent a leading edge to point off the bowling off Umesh Yadav. Jadeja, enjoying one of the best days of his career, was again the catcher.

With a minimum of 14.2 overs left in the match, England appeared doomed.

They were pushed to the precipice when Stuart Broad became Jadeja’s his sixth wicket. Three balls later Jake Ball, caught in the gully, became his seventh wicket as England’s humiliation was complete.