India could not do a Sydney or Brisbane in Chennai on Tuesday. Or rather, England did not let them do it.

The visitors used the variable bounce on a tricky final day Chepauk pitch to perfection, spicing it up with brilliant use of reverse swing, to shut the door on India within the first two sessions of the day.

Jack Leach (4/76) and James Anderson (3/17) were the architects of England’s spectacular win. One spun it viciously while the other reverse swung the ball beyond the reach of the Indian batsmen to help England to a massive 227-run win at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

The Englishmen go 1-0 up in the four-match series and it is evident that they have come prepared, their victorious tour of Sri Lanka that preceded this series being of great help to them.

If Leach dismissing Cheteshwar Pujara was a shot in the arm for the visitors on Tuesday morning, it was the devastating spell from the 38-year-old Anderson that swung the match completely in England’s favour. There was no conventional swing on offer, nor was there any seam movement in conditions that were more or less benign. But

the ball did reverse and the manner in which Anderson castled the well set Shubman Gill (50) and Ajinkya Rahane in just four balls, proved what a good craftsman he is of reverse swing.

Anderson lured the in-form Rishabh Pant too into his trap soon after to leave captain Virat Kohli, who was at the other end of the crease, staring at defeat in the series opener.

For England skipper Joe Root, Anderson’s spell was as good as that of Andrew Flintoff when the former England all-rounder bowled a dream over to get rid of Justin Langer and Ricky Ponting in the fourth innings of the second Ashes Test at Birmingham in 2005, a game the Aussies lost by just two runs.

“I can’t think of a better over in my time. It reminded me of Andrew Flintoff in 2005 and the impact of that over to Ponting and Langer,” Root, adjudged Man of the Match for his first-innings 218 that set the tone for his team, said.

Kohli (72) did put up some resistance for a while with Ravichandran Ashwin, but it was never going to be enough.

Left-arm spinner Leach first foxed Ashwin and a few overs later, Ben Stokes, having troubled Kohli in the past too, got one to keep low that knocked off the India skipper’s off-stump.

Defeat was inevitable thereafter. The Indian innings ended on 192.

‘Can’t stand still’

Both individually and team-wise, Root’s 100th Test turned out to be a perfect one. He is now tied with Michael Vaughan for the most number of

Test wins as England captain. Besides, England stretched their victorious streak in Asia to six wins on the trot with

all of them coming under Root’s captaincy.

However, Root is well aware that though the battle is won, the war is not over. “Can we turn up next week and do it again? Can we keep finding ways of getting better on surfaces and conditions we aren’t used to?

“It’s really important we don’t just stand still now and be happy with what we’ve achieved,” Root emphasised after the match.

Stat-o-sphere

• Playing in his 158th Test, James Anderson has now picked up 343 wickets since he crossed the age of 30. He went past West Indies’ Courtney Walsh’s 30-plus tally of 341 wickets

• Virat Kohli has become the fourth-highest run-getter as Test captain with 5303 runs.

Most runs as Test captain

• 8659 - Graeme Smith

• 6623 - Allan Border

• 6542 - Ricky Ponting

• 5303 - VIRAT KOHLI

• 5233 - Clive Lloyd

• This was India’s only fourth defeat at home in the last 10 years after losing to England (3) and Australia (1).

India’s home losses in the last 10 years

• 1. Lost to England at Mumbai by 10 wkts, 2012

• 2. Lost to England at Kolkata by 7 wkts, 2012

• 3. Lost to Australia at Pune by 33 runs, 2017

• 4. Lost to England at Chennai by 227 runs, 2021

• This was England’s sixth consecutive away Test win. The only other time they won more in a row was before WW 1 when they won seven from 1911-1914.

• This was also England’s sixth consecutive Test victory in Asia. They had won three Tests in a row in 1976/77.

• The victory was Joe Root’s 26th as England captain in his 47th Test match. He now joins Michael Vaughan (in 51 Tests) with most Test wins as England captain.

Mohandas Menon

Scorecard

England
1st innings 578

India
1st innings 337

England
2nd innings 178

India
2nd innings 39/1
S. Gill b Anderson 50
C. Pujara c Stokes b Leach 15
V. Kohli b Stokes 72
A. Rahane b Anderson 0
R. Pant c Root b Anderson 11
W. Sundar c Buttler b Bess 0
R. Ashwin c Buttler b Leach 9
S. Nadeem c Burns b Leach 0
I. Sharma not out 5
J. Bumrah c Buttler b Archer 4
Extras (b-8, lb-5, nb-1) 14
Total (all out; 58.1 overs) 192
Fall of wickets: 2/58, 3/92, 4/92, 5/110, 6/117, 7/171, 8/179, 9/179
Bowling: Archer 9.1-4-23-1, Leach 26-4-76-4, Anderson 11-4-17-3, Bess 8-0-50-1, Stokes 4-1-13-1
MoM: Joe Root
England won by 227 runs