England sealed the five-match Test series 4-1 with a 118-run win at the Oval. It was a fairytale finish for Alastair Cook, who not only scored a hundred in his final Test but also broke into the top five run-getters of all time in the longest format of the game.
149 by Rahul is the second highest by an Indian batsman in the fourth innings of a Test after 221 by Sunil Gavaskar at the same venue in 1979 when India narrowly missed out chasing down 438 – nine runs away with two wickets in hand.
204 between Rahul and Pant is the second-highest partnership for India for any wicket in the fourth innings of a Test after the 213 for the first wicket by Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan at the Oval Test mentioned above.
England’s bowling spearhead James Anderson became the most successful fast bowler in Test cricket when he picked up the final wicket of the game to overtake Glenn McGrath’s 563 scalps. There were quite a few records that were broken and rewritten.
Score card
ENG 332, 423/8 declIND 292, 345-all out (94.3 Ovs)
England won by 118 runs
PLAYER OF THE MATCH Alastair Cook
PLAYER OF THE SERIES Sam Curran & Virat Kohli
India had lost the five-match series after conceding a 1-3 lead to hosts England after the fourth Test. The visitors on Tuesday lost the fifth and final Test by 118 runs.
England began the series in fifth position and 97 points but the emphatic victory over top-ranked India has resulted in a big gain of eight points and lifted them to 105 points as they surpassed New Zealand. Thus England grabbed the fourth spot in the ICC Test Team Rankings after completing a 4-1 series victory at The Oval on Tuesday.
Joe Root’s England side are now just one point behind South Africa and Australia, who are both on 106 points with the former marginally ahead on decimal points.
With New Zealand not far behind on 102 points, there are now four teams within a space of five points of each other on the points table.
The Virat Kohli-led side had started the series at 125 points but the series loss meant it is now on 115 points BCCI team continued to be at the numero uno position
