India vs England, 2021: 4th Test – India's unbeaten record at home, Axar Patel's exceptional series, Ashwin's 8th Player of the Series award and more stats

India have won the four-match Test series against England by 3-1 to complete another stunning comeback after losing the opening game of the contest. The Virat Kohli-led side comprehensively won the next three Tests ending the series on a thumping note with an innings victory. Axar Patel and Ravi Ashwin were the architects of a quick win on the third day as they equally shared the spoils skittling England for just 135 runs.

Earlier on the third day, Washington Sundar was left stranded on 96 as India were bundled out for 365 runs with a lead of 160 in the first innings. Axar Patel scored 43 runs before getting run-out while Mohammed Siraj and Ishant Sharma couldn’t add a single run to the total.

Here are all the records and stats from the 4th Test between India and England:

13 – This is India’s 13th consecutive series win at home in Tests. They last lost a series in the longest format at home in the 2012-13 season against England.

2013-14 – The last Test series of four or more matches where England had one or no hundred was during the 2013-14 Ashes against Australia. Ben Stokes scored the only hundred for England then, and Joe Root was the only centurion for them in this series.

5 – Washington Sundar became the fifth Indian cricketer to be stranded in the 90s in a Test inning (last man standing with team all-out).

List of Indians stranded in the 90s in a Test innings

R Ashwin (91*) v ENG in 2012

Dilip Vengsarkar (98*) v SL in 1985

Gundappa Viswanath (97*) v WI in 1975

Washington Sundar (96*) v ENG in 2021

1981 – The last time before today, when two Indian bowlers took five-wicket hauls in the same innings. Kapil Dev and Madan Lal had achieved heroics against England at Mumbai in 1981.

22.16 – Cheteshwar Pujara’s average in this Test series, which is comfortably his lowest in any home series. His previous worst home series in terms of batting average, was against South Africa in 2015, when he averaged 33.66.

1 – This is the first time India shared a 100-run partnership for both the seventh and eighth wickets in a Test innings. Washington Sundar was the common player in both the partnerships, sharing a 113-run stand with Rishabh Pant and a 106-run stand with Axar Patel.

30 – This is the 30th five-wicket haul for Ravi Ashwin in Test cricket. He became only the second Indian after Anil Kumble with 30 five-wicket hauls or more in Tests. Ashwin needs 6 more five-wicket hauls to overtake Kumble and become India’s leader in this aspect.

27 – Total wickets taken by Axar Patel in his first 3 Test matches, which is the joint third-highest along with Rodney Hogg. Only Narendra Hirwani (31) and Charles Turner (29) took more wickets in their first 3 Test matches.

4 – Total five-wicket hauls claimed by Axar Patel in this series, which is the joint highest in a Test series by an Indian bowler along with four others. Bhagwath Chandrasekhar is the only other player to do it against England.

Indians to take 4 five-wicket hauls in a Test series

Subhash Gupte v NZ in 1955

Bhagwath Chandrasekhar v ENG in 1972-73

Harbhajan Singh v AUS in 2001

R Ashwin v AUS in 2013

Axar Patel v ENG in 2021

50 – This is the 50th match where India won with Cheteshwar Pujara being part of the playing XI. Sachin Tendulkar (72) and Rahul Dravid (56) are the only other Indians to be a part of 50+ Test wins.

8 – This is the eighth time Ravi Ashwin won the Player of the Series award which is now the joint third-highest. He has already won the most Man of the Series awards by an Indian in Tests, with the second-highest being Virender Sehwag (5).

Most Player of the Series awards in Tests

11 – Muttiah Muralitharan

9 – Jacques Kallis

8 – R ASHWIN, Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee, Shane Warne

2 – With the result of the match, it confirms that India and New Zealand will be playing the World Test Championship final. This is the second time India and New Zealand will lock horns in an ICC tournament final of any format, after the 2000 Champions Trophy final at Nairobi.

6 – With this innings win, India achieved their sixth innings victory against England in Test cricket, the last being at Chennai during the 2016-17 season. Three out of six innings victories by India against England in Tests have come under Virat Kohli’s captaincy.

~Written by Kaustubh Gudipati