India vs England: Key stats from fourth Test in Ahmedabad

The Indian cricket team booked their place in the World Test Championship Final after beating England by an innings and 25 runs in the fourth and final Test of the series. Virat Kohli’s men put on an all-round show in Ahmedabad’s Motera Stadium to outclass England in every department, with spinners Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin playing a key role in the triumph.

A 3-1 series win means India finished at the top of the WTC points table, and will take on New Zealand in the final in June at the iconic Lord's cricket ground in London.

The final Test in Ahmedabad produced plenty of records, and here we look at a few of them.

Axar Patel’s dream debut

Spin bowling was arguably India’s key weapon in the entire series, with both Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin being the chief annihilators. The two bowlers, in fact, picked a whopping 59 wickets between each other. While Ashwin scalped a total of 32 wickets across four Tests, including three five-wicket hauls, Patel picked 27 in three Tests that included four five-wicket hauls. Patel’s figure of 27 wickets is the most by an Indian spinner in his debut Test series.

Overall, a total of 67 wickets were picked by spinners in the four-match Test series, which is the joint-third most wickets in a series by Indian spinners. 

England’s batsmen disappoint

There were a total of just four 50-run partnerships for England in the entire series - all of which came in the first innings of the first Test, which England won. This is now the joint fewest 50-run stands for England in a series comprising two or more matches since 2000. What would be more concerning for England is that their opening pair, comprising Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley, formed just two 50-run partnerships across eight innings.

As many as 12 innings ended in a single-digit score for England in the series, the joint-third most single-digit dismissals in a match against India in away matches. Furthermore, England had just six 50-plus scores in the entire series, the joint-second fewest for England in an away series since Jan 1, 2000.

Quick stat:

Washington Sundar registered an impeccable 113 runs partnership with Rishabh Pant for the 7th wicket and followed it up with another 100-plus stand for the 8th wicket, this time with Axar Patel. This was just the third instance in Test cricket where century stands have been formed for the 7th and the 8th wicket. Following are the previous instances.

England vs Australia at Sydney in 2011

• 107-run stand for the 7^th wicket between Prior and Bell
• 102-run stand for the 8^th wicket between Prior and Bresnan

Australia vs India at Sydney in 2008

• 173-run stand for the 7^th wicket between Hogg and Symonds
• 114-run stand for the 8^th wicket between Lee and

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Sajjad Hussain