India defeated England in the home Test series comprehensively by 3-1. After losing the first Test, it was a great comeback by India. The 3-1 series triumph propelled them to the top of the points table in the ICC World Test Championship and also saw them through to the final.

At the start of this Test series, both India and England were close to qualifying for the final. They both needed to win the series, of course. India just needed a 2-1 margin series victory to qualify the WTC final.

England shocked India by winning the first Test by 227 runs in Chennai. It was an unexpected result for everyone, and the Indians started thinking that if England even drew the Test series, India would be out of the final.

With a win worth 30 points and a draw 10 points, India could not afford to lose another match in the remaining three Tests, but the home side bounced back strongly and their spinners Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin destroyed the England batting and won the next three Tests by 317 runs, by 10 wickets and by an innings and 25 runs.

With a 3-1 series win, India surpassed Australia to the final with 72.2 percentage points, which also helped them top the points table, clear of New Zealand at 70.

It was the first instance when India won three matches in a Test series after going 0-1 down. Previously, India had won five series after being beaten in the first Test, but all of them ended with a scoreline of 2-1.

Young players played an important role as senior players Kohli, Rahane, and Pujara failed to score a single century, while Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammad Shami were not available.

Captain Virat Kohli was not in good form as he scored 172 runs, averaging 46.23 with the help of two fifties, while Pujara (133) and Rahane (112) managed only one fifty each.

In the last five years, India became the most dominant home team. India have registered the most successive (13) home Test series wins since 2016. They surpassed Australia’s 10 home series victories record that Aussies registered twice.

With the fourth Test win against England, Virat Kohli became the most successful Indian Test captain with 36 wins in 60 matches with a win percentage of 60. Kohli also equalled Ricky Ponting’s record of most (10) successive home Test series wins. This was Kohli’s 10th straight Test series win at home.

Kohli also surpassed former Australia captain Steve Waugh in an elite list of Test captains. The win in the 4th Test was Kohli’s 23rd Test victory at home, and he is now 3rd in the list of captains with the most Test wins at home.

It was one of the worst Test series for England. The visitors were bowled out under 150 runs four times in the series. It was the first series since 1909 when England were bowled out below 150 runs four times or more.

After winning the first Test in Chennai by 227 runs, England were confident for the next three matches to qualify for the Test Championship final, but the Indian spinners turned the table.

English batsmen’s skills in spinning conditions let them down at key moments in the series.

Under the coaching of Ravi Shastri, India have won five out of their six series, only losing 2-0 in New Zealand.

There is no second opinion that India have world-class spinners. They can destroy any batting lineup in favourable conditions as they did against England.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin won the Player-of-the-Series award after he ended the four-match series with 32 wickets. Ashwin has now won a Player-of-the-Series against each of the six major teams he has played against. It was the eighth occasion when Ashwin won the Player-of-the-Series award. Only Muttiah Muralitharan (11) and Jacques Kallis (9) have more series awards than Ashwin in Test series.

Ashwin is also just the fifth player to score a century and claim 30 or more wickets in a Test series. He also became the first Indian to take 30 or more wickets in a Test series twice. Ashwin also scored 189 runs - more than Virat Kohli (172).

Left-arm spinner Axar Patel finished the series with 27 wickets, the joint-most by an Indian in his debut Test series. Dilip Doshi also claimed 27 wickets during a six-match home series against Australia in 1979.

England skipper Joe Root remained the most successful batsman of the series with 368 runs with the help of one double hundred, averaging 46. Indian opener Rohit Sharma scored 345 runs, at an average of 57.50, including one century and one fifty.

Left-arm orthodox spinner Jack Leach took most 18 wickets for England at 28.72.

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