Sunday 01 / December / 2024
Ranchi: India consolidated its hold on the second spot in the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 standings following their five-wicket win over England in the fourth Test at Ranchi on Monday.
Riding on sparkling performances of young guns Shubman Gill and Dhruv Jurel, the hosts went past the finish line in Ranjhi and, in the process, clinched the five-match series 3-1 with a five-wicket victory in the fourth Test against England on Monday.
India now have an unassailable 3-1 series lead over England, with a match to spare.
The hosts are at the second spot in ICC WTC 2023-25 with five wins, two losses and a draw, giving them 62 points and a point percentage of 64.58.
New Zealand sits at the top with three wins and a loss, which has given them 36 points and a point percentage of 75.
The visitors, England, sit in the eighth and second-last spot in the standings, with three wins and five losses in nine Tests and one ending in a draw. They have a total of 21 points and a point percentage of 19.44.
Australia, the current WTC champions, are in third place with six wins, three losses and a draw after 10 Tests. Their total points are 66 and their point percentage is 55.00.
In what was a must-win Test, England chose to bat first after winning the toss and closed their first innings at 353, riding majorly on a fine comeback century by premier batter and former skipper Joe Root (122* in 274 balls, 10 fours), a half-century from Ollie Robinson (58 in 96 balls, with nine fours and a six) and Ben Foakes (47 in 126 balls, with four boundaries and a six).
Ravindra Jadeja (4/67) and Akash Deep (3/83) were the pick of the bowlers for India.
India were bundled out for 307 in their first innings in reply to England's 353. Despite Yashasvi Jaiswal (73 in 117 balls, with eight fours and a six) firing once again, India were reduced to 219/7 before Jurel (90 in 149 balls, with six fours and four sixes) joined forces with Kuldeep (28 in 131 balls) to stitch a 76-run stand for the eighth wicket and dragged India past the 300-run mark.
Spinner Shoaib Bashir troubled Indian batters, picking up his maiden five-wicket haul (5/119). Tom Hartley (3/68) and James Anderson (2/48) also registered impressive figures.
The lion-hearted rearguard effort by Jurel, in the company of the lower order, not only lifted India from the dumps but also helped reduce England's first-innings lead to 46 runs.
In their second innings, England were shot out for just 145 runs, with Zak Crawley (60 in 91 balls, with seven fours) and Jonny Bairstow (30 in 42 balls, with three fours) offering some resistance. Spinners took all the 10 wickets for India, with Ravichandran Ashwin (5/51) and Kuldeep Yadav (4/22) leading the bowling charts for the hosts.
Chasing 192 for an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series, the hosts were off to a fine start, with skipper Rohit Sharma (55 in 81 balls, with five fours and a six) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (37 in 44 balls, with five fours) putting on an 84-run opening stand.
However, that was before Bashir brought the visitors back into the game, picking up 3/79 and reducing India to 120/5.
Thereafter, Shubman Gill (52* in 124 balls, with two sixes) and Dhruv Jurel (39* in 77 balls, with two fours) guided India to a series win by five wickets.
