England thrash India by innings and 244 runs at The Oval, win series 3-1

London Indias recent saga of spineless performances touched a new low as they crashed to a humiliating innings and 244 runs defeat well inside three days in the fifth and final cricket Test against England who clinched the series with a 31 margin here todayIt was yet another abject surrender by the batsman who were shot out for 94 in just 292 overs as they continued their embarassing display succumbing to their heaviest Test defeat in 40 years This was after England took a gigantic 338 runs lead with a healthy first innings score of 486 riding on a brilliant 149 not out by Joe Root The series win enbaled Alastair Cook and his boys to retain the Pataudi Trophy for the second straight time in three yearsWhile statistically it was not a Whitewash like the last time in 2011 when India lost 04 but once the script took a different turn in Southampton it had only been a case of humiliation of Mahendra Singh Dhonis men who simply were not good enough to put up a semblance of fight against a rampaging English outfit running all over themEngland players Alastair Cook l and Stuart Broad r celebrate the wicket of Gambhir Pic AFPThe likes of Gautam Gambhir 3 Cheteshwar Pujara 11 Virat Kohli 20 whose faulty techniques in adverse conditions was cruelly exposed by the likes of Jimmy Anderson Stuart Broad While Kohli did not have a clue about how to tackle deliveries shaping away Pujara was all at sea against the ball coming into the righthander It was ironical that India lost two Test matches with a total playing time of five days which is the duration of a single Test matchIt was nearimpossible to prevent a landslide victory for England but opener Murali Vijay 2 who had a decent first half of the tour got an incutter from Anderson was adjudged legbefore Gautam Gambhir 3 didnt slide the bat in as he was a feet short off the crease failing to beat a direct throw from Chris Woakes While India went into the lunch at 9 for two the writing was there on the wallChris Jordan 418 and James Anderson 216 once again hassled the visitors as the Indian batsman were unable to cope with their swing bowling skills in better conditions for a second match running Stuart Broad 122 and Chris Woakes 124 were the other wickettakers as Indias scorecard was again a disappointing reading with only three batsmen able to reach double figures Pujara and Kohli then started off postlunch in a bit to rediscover their form and for a brief period of play they did look better than they have previously in the last three matchesIt didnt last long though as they added only 21 runs for the third wicket the highest for the Indian innings Pujara was then caught behind off an unplayable delivery from Anderson as the slide began Ajinkya Rahane 4 came to the crease and pushed and prodded his way for some time before he was dismissed in the same manner five overs later as Gary Ballance pulled off a stunning onehanded catch at third slipFive balls later came the death blow as skipper MS Dhoni 0 was caught tamely at forward short leg and India were once again struggling at 465 Kohli atleast managed to get them past the 50run mark but it wasnt enough to salvage any pride The batsman then was dismissed in the 24th over looking to clip the ball on the legside but only edging to first slip Jordan then upped the ante and quickly scalped R Ashwin 7 and Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4 in the space of five balls in the 26th over Varun Aaron 1 was runout an over laterThe end came as Ishant Sharma 2 was unable to fend off a short ball and lobbed the ball up for Moeen Ali to finish India s misery Stuart Binny remained unbeaten on 25 28 balls 4 fours Indias misery had been compounded in the morning session when trailing by 336 runs they lost two quick wickets as soon as they started their second inningsMurali Vijay 2 was trapped LBW by a sharp inswinger from James Anderson 11 while opening partner Gautam Gambhir 3 was foolishly runout off the first ball of the 7th over as rain forced an early lunch break India still trail England by 329 runs This was after Root 149 165 balls 18 fours 1 six struck his second century of the series as the hosts were eventually bowled out for 486 runs in their first innings taking a 336run lead in reply to the Indian total of 148 runs Ishant Sharma 496 and R Ashwin 372 were India s best bowlers in this innings while Varun Aaron 2153 also bowled his heart outBhuvneshwar Kumar 186 looked tired after a long series and Stuart Binny 058 was the only other bowler used Starting at the overnight score of 3857 India were looking for an early end to the English innings But Root had other plans First he reached his fifth Test hundred in the third over of the day 108th of the innings having faced 135 balls with 10 fours and 1 six The visitors had some luck in that over though with Ishant removing Chris Jordan 20 runs 33 balls 2 fours ending his 82run partnership with RootBut the visitors were in for some more punishment as new batsman Stuart Broad opened up as soon as he arrived at the crease He scored off every delivery until the 11th ball that he faced taking 27 runs off his first 10 balls Root was bowled in the 110th over by Ishant but it was deemed a noball He too then started playing some aggressive strokes as the Indian bowling was taken to task scoring 49 runs off the next 30 balls he faced In the first hour India bowled only 11 overs but conceded a massive 98 runsRoot and Broad added 63 runs for the ninth wicket off just 64 overs with a scoring rate of 945 runs per over Broad was finally caught at gully off a short ball from Ishant after scoring a quickfire 37 runs off 21 balls with 5 fours and 1 six Ashwin then brought an end to the innings dismissing James Anderson 1 cheaply but the match was already out of Indias hands by then