Mohali: Day 4 of the Mohali Test very well turned out to be the last day of the match as India with the help of its all-round performance won the match by eight wickets, here on Tuesday. Whether it was batting, bowling or fielding Indian players outplayed England in all the three departments and can be very proud of its performance. This also meant that with two Tests to go, England cannot win the Test series from here and at the most can afford a draw which also looks improbable given the current form.

In the second innings at Mohali, two men stood out. For an injured 19-year-old, to come to the crease and try and pull of an improbable draw takes a lot of courage and H Hameed showed his character and class. In his knock of 59 of 156 balls, he showed us why he is regarded as a talent that can very well develop into a great batsman. The other lone fighter for England was once again Joe Root who played 179 balls, an innings of denial, control, patience and class and accumulated 78 runs for his team. To see them perform the way they did, especially H Hammed who has been ruled out of the series due to injury (remained not out till the end) were the biggest positives for England Cricket.

So, when Joe Root was dismissed it was practically over, and when England were eventually dismissed for 236 runs in just a little over 90 overs, it was always going to be India’s game, and although M Vijay went for a duck and Cheteshwar Pujara silently made a 25 before getting out, it had to be a fairy tale script where the come-back man Parthiv Patel lead India’s chase of a 103 and scored the winning runs as well, in his unbeaten innings of 67 of 54 balls with a strike rate of over 100.

Although India will take plenty of positives from this match, India must know they also made mistakes and got away with it and they might not be as fortunate in the next match, so they better learn from the mistakes and try not to repeat them, specifically in the fielding department. England had all the chances, a huge chance on Day 1 when they batted first after winning the toss, another massive moment when India were six down for 200 odd runs, but they just could not hold on to them.

Winning the Test match is all about winning those crucial moments and sessions, and if England start winning those moments, England might come out as an even tougher opponent. When the teams meet at Mumbai for the fourth test, it would another great contest. Ravindra Jadeja was aptly adjudged as the man-of-the-match for his all round performance in Mohali.
Will India win the series at Mumbai or will England come back? The match starts on December 8, 2016, 9:30 AM IST.