A Magnificent swing-bowling spell of 4/85 from James Anderson helped the home side demolish India, bowling them out for 244, knocking them off the top of the world Test rankings and wrapping up the series 3-0 with a resounding innings-and-242-run victory on day four of the third test at Edgbaston, Birmingham.
India resumed the day on 35/1, still trailing by 451 runs with 9 wickets remaining and got off to a bad start as overnight not out batsman, Gambhir, departed in just the second over of the day, caught at second slip off Anderson. Gambhir made 14 from 42 deliveries with two hits to the fence.
Tendulkar was edgy to start off with and got off the mark with an inside edge for a single off Anderson. Tendulkar opened his account of boundaries with a beautifully placed cover drive off a full toss from Stuart Broad. In the most bizarre of dismissals, Anderson removed Dravid caught behind; Dravid walked, appearing unconvinced and did not resort to DRS.
Later on, replays showed that there was no contact of the ball with bat as confirmed by Hot Spot and Dravid's shoelace had flicked the bottom of his bat which made it sound like a nick. Two wickets in the first four overs had India reeling at 40 for 3.
Tendulkar, meanwhile had settled down, he hit Anderson straight down the ground for a boundary and followed it up with two consecutive boundaries, one through mid off and one through third man to bring up India's fifty. India suffered a huge blow, when Laxman was caught behind off Anderson via a perfect outswinger.
Tendulkar was playing free flowing strokes as he drove Broad uppishly through point for a boundary and then danced down the track to Swann, hitting him over midwicket for another. Suresh Raina survived a dropped chance off Swann at gully in the 27th over. Tendulkar continued his dominance with two boundaries off Bresnan and Raina followed suit off the bowling of Swann before he was trapped in front in the same over.
India received a huge blow when Tendulkar was unfortunately run out by Swann at the bowlers end off his own bowling. Dhoni firmly hit a shot straight towards Swann who got a finger on it, Tendulkar was backing up and tried to make it back, but the stumps were broken before he could slide his bat back in. Mishra hit three boundaries before lunch as India went into lunch at 116 for 6.
After lunch, Swann had Mishra brilliantly caught at mid on for 22 to make it 130 for 7. Praveen Kumar opened his account with an edged four through third man. He then took on Swann in his next over hitting him for 19 runs with a straight boundary and two humongous sixes over midwicket. Dhoni got into the act bringing up the fifty partnership off just 28 balls with consecutive boundaries off Anderson over mid on and through fine leg.
The pair took on Swann in the next over, mauling him for 21 runs including two boundaries and a six. Kumar's cameo of 40 from 18 balls came to an end when he top edged a Broad bouncer straight into the hands of mid off. His 18-ball adventurous innings included five hits to the fence and three over it. Dhoni got into T20 mode soon after, as he clobbered Anderson for three boundaries in an over and in process, brought up his half-century from 62 balls. Broad then made it 221 for 9 when he had Ishant Sharma trapped leg before wicket. Dhoni and Sreesanth added another 23 runs before Bresnan wrapped up the innings on 244 by having Sreesanth caught at gully, winning the match by an innings and 242 runs and wrapping up the series 3-0.
Alastair Cook was named the man of the match for his classy innings of 294.
Result: England won by an innings and 242 runs
Scores:
India 1st inns: 224/10, England 1st inns: 710/7 dec
India 2nd inns: 244/10
Man of the Match: Alastair Cook
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