The commentary is not available for this match. Please check the scorecard for latest updates.
That will be all from Dharamsala, ladies and gentlemen! Hope we could provide with with a lot of excitement and joy. From out part, the entire team loved bringing the action to you right through the 5 Test matches! On behalf of everyone in our team, this is the pair of Pradeep and Bidipto, taking your leave. But do not forget to keep your eyes glued to the Test match going on in Christchurch between New Zealand and Australia, friends! That is turning into one interesting contest. And of course, keep following Sportskeeda!
So, India sit on top of the World Test Championship ladder with 68.5 percentage points. They have had lots of positives right through these five games. But there is no doubt about the fact that the newcomers were the biggest gains for the Indian team management! Dhruv Jurel, Sarfaraz Khan, Akash Deep, Devdutt Padikkal and of course, Yashasvi Jaiswal! They were above par, well above par! Congratulations to Rohit Sharma and his team for maintaining their fortress against a side that threatened a lot, at least on paper, before the series commenced!
As for India, be it the seniors, be it the juniors, or for that matter, be it the debutants! Everyone contributed! Everyone. Batting, bowling, fielding, captaincy - you name it. India were superb right through the series. There were many big names missing. There were unavailability of players too. There were plenty of tricky phases right through the five Test matches, but India prevailed in most of them and how! They are deservingly, the triumphant winners of the series!
Ollie Pope's 196 in the first Test, Ben Duckett's 150 in the 3rd Test, Joe Root's 100 in the 4th Test were the positive talking points with the bat for England. So also, Zak Crawley's form. Shoaib Bashir's twin five-wicket hauls in the series on only a 3-match Test career and Tom Hartley's much improved bowling effort right through the series were the things to take away for England with the ball. But apart from these, very little really! However, James Anderson taking 700 wickets and Ben Stokes getting back to the bowling crease should encourage the visitors.
Rohit Sharma (India captain): (First thoughts) A lot of things need to go down well to win a series like this and they have, which is amazing! (On this performance despite some key players missing on occasions) We know that some people will come, some people will go, but that's alright, the younger players have responded to the pressure beautifully. The entire team did its bit. Whoever got the chance, put his hand up under pressure! (On the team's bowling in the series) We talk about scoring runs all the time, but, it is just as important to take 20 wickets in order to win Test matches, so, the bowlers were incredible! Anyone who had the ball in hand tried to make, and actually did make the difference! (On Kuldeep Yadav's much improved performance) I had a long conversation with Kuldeep, actually on many occasions. He has got something about him, we have to accept it. He has come back a lot fitter after injury and it shows how hard he has worked in his overall game. (On Yashasvi Jaiswal's Test career so far) Yashasvi has got a long way to go but the start has been magnificent. When someone has the talent like he has, you need to back him. He is a tough guy, there will be challenges along the way but his appetite for runs should pull him through, surely!
Yashasvi Jaiswal has been adjudged the Player of the Series! Here is what he has to say.
Yashasvi: (On the series just gone by) I think I really enjoyed this series! I am happy with the way I batted, yeah! (On his approach) I was thinking about playing my shots without any second thoughts. I'm trying to play one match at a time. I would also like to say that I try to take the bowling on whenever I feel like the opportunity is there.
Kuldeep Yadav is the Player of the Match! Here's what he has to say: (On being asked, is this the best you've bowled?) I think so, it's just the hard work from the last couple of years, getting the reward now. I think really bowled well in Ranchi, I'd probably choose Ranchi, the wicket was slow and the way I used the drift was good. I like the Ben Stokes wicket in Ranchi, loved the Zak Crawley's wicket as well. Just focusing on the good length, very important for a spinner in any game, not think anything about what batters does, keep the focus on rhythm. Credit goes to the batting coach, Vikki paaji, he's helped me a lot. Backing me everytime I wanted to contribute with the bat.
Ben Stokes (England captain): Now that series comes to an end, we've been outplayed by a better team, I think now with me who I am and how I look at things, with so much cricket coming up, Pakistan and New Zealand, taking the positives from series, something that I'll take it forward and move on. Not necessarily worried me, as a series on whole, there were small moments that we couldn't keep ourselves on top, trying to understand and be a bit more relentless, we all as individuals know that. When India get on top, the men come around the bat, when you have quality bowlers like Ashwin, Jadeja, you have to find ways to get the fielders around you out of the way, get the couple of sweeps away and you got to be positive, sometimes it can be the downfall, but the intent is always there. Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett has been brilliant, Hartley and Bashir showed some real quality to the future. Bash has been exceptional, Hartley was brilliant. From personal point of view, it was great to be back on the field to bowl. Amazing to be on the field with Jimmy, being there for 700 wickets as a seamer is phenomenal, he's an inspiration for the youngsters, he's 41 years, he's the fittest I've ever seen, he's still got the desire and it's great to watch.
Bowling stat alert: India have registered 5 5-wicket hauls in the series compared to England's 3.
Batting start alert: India have also registered 7 5-wicket hauls in the series as opposed to 3 by England.
Rahul Dravid (Head coach, India): I think, really proud to be honest, we were behind in the first test, it was disappointing but credit to the team to bounce back, kept the calmness after losing the first test, just had the skill to come back and compete. The team stood up to the occasion, as a support staff, couldn't be more prouder. When you do lose players with that caliber, it can be tough, in terms of entertainment perspective, you have people coming into watch them. You have players coming in and stepping up, it was total team performance, everyone contributed at some stage of the series, that was pleasing to see. It's nice and privilege to work with, just not me, bunch of professionals to work with. Rohit's been a fantastic leader. Big shout to Ajit and team, we don't see much domestic cricket, they've challenged us to pick the right one's, it's not easy being the selector, you always get the criticism, but a big pat on the back for them. Some great performances, hard to pick one stand out moment for me. I'd say Ashwin coming back to the team after he what went through 24hrs for the team, wanting to come back and contribute, signifies the stand out moment for me.