England Complete 4-0 Whitewash over India; Defeat India by an Innings and 8 Runs

The task was pretty clear for both teams going into the fifth and final day of the fourth Test of the India England series at the Oval. England needed seven wickets for a 4-0 whitewash and India needed to bat right through the day in order to prevent that. In the end, India did put up resistance but failed to prevent the dreaded 4-0 scoreline.

Graeme Swann

Sachin Tendulkar looked promising batting on thirty-two from overnight with nightwatchman Amit Mishra giving him company. The unlikely duo fashioned a resistance that left England, for a change, having to work for the ultimate prize.

Mishra proved more than merely a handy nightwatchman who could keep the opposition at bay. Instead he matched the batting maestro when it came to stroke making, timely fluently shots all around the ground to raise his second Test half century. Not content to merely hang around, Mishra showed that feisty could be one way of fighting it. His partnership with Tendulkar was the second time in the entire series that India have surpassed the hundred run mark and it also helped India put up their first score of over 300 runs in the series.

Tendulkar himself looked ominous, determined and purposeful. The England bowlers knew they had their work cut out and had to be immensely patient if they were indeed create the scenario for a whitewash. And sure enough, the opportunity presented itself to eventually lead India to defeat before tea on the fifth day.

Mishra, after playing beautifully for eighty-four, fell to Graeme Swann, thereby, opening up the door. His more illustrious batting peers should have taken the cue and try to slug it out in the remaining final session. But that was not to be.

Sachin Tendulkar was dropped on eighty-five and it seemed that his 100th 100 was going to come in the series itself after all. However, on ninety-one, Tendulkar was adjudged lbw to Tim Bresnan as the ball appeared to slide down the legside although Hawk Eye showed the ball clipped the leg stump. Tendulkar’s elusive 100th 100 continued its run but more importantly, from India’s perspective, they were five down with the two men who had seen India through to almost two sessions.

What followed was another pathetic display of batting although Suresh Raina was a tad unfortunate that there appeared to be an inside edge to his lbw decision. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian captain, continued to fetch the ball from outside the off stump for a non existent drive. In a matter of time, the end was hastened even as Swann would have been delighted to have a six wicket haul in the second innings under his belt.

The hard work of the morning turned into the disillusion of the afternoon as the Indian team was forced to face the fact that they had not only been beaten by a better team but that they would have to swallow a 4-0 defeat in addition to losing their no.1 Test team status. For England, it was a case of checking all the boxes as far as their goals for the summer were concerned.