Captain Rohit Sharma said India were a “delight to watch” after they hammered England to win the third Test with a day to spare, with their 434-run margin of victory their biggest ever.
India began Sunday as heavy favourites to take a 2-1 series lead after England’s batting collapse on Saturday, and they declared with a 556-run advantage following Yashasvi Jaiswal’s double century.
From there, India’s bowlers did the rest with Ravindra Jadeja taking centre-stage. Jadeja finished with figures of 5-41 – his best since a win over Sri Lanka in March 2022 – to prevent England from forcing a fifth day.
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Speaking to TNT Sports after the victory, Rohit praised India for digging in when England were in the ascendency at the end of day two, saying he always had faith that their attack would step up.
“When you play Test cricket, it’s not played over two days or three days. We know the importance of staying in the game for five days,” he said.
“They put us under pressure, but we’ve got class in our squad when it comes to bowling.
“The message was to stay calm. It’s easy to drift away from what you want to do. I’m proud of how we came back, and when that happens it’s a delight to watch.”
🚨 𝙍𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝘼𝙡𝙚𝙧𝙩! 🚨
With a winning margin of 434 runs in Rajkot, #TeamIndia register their biggest Test victory ever 👏🔝
A historic win courtesy of some memorable performances 👌👌
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/FM0hVG5X8M#INDvENG | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/nXbjlAYq7K
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 18, 2024
In England, much has been made of Ben Stokes’ failure to win the toss and put his team in to bat in Rajkot, and Rohit knew it would be crucial to set the tone.
“It was a good toss to win, we know how important it is in India to get runs on the board,” he said. “After that onslaught from the England batters, the bowlers showed a lot of character.
“We knew the job was half done, and in the second innings we wanted to come out and bat and get the lead that we wanted.”
