Old truisms hold sway against new methods

Ultimately, James Anderson's prediction of finishing off the chase in 60-70 overs was proved right. But it played out mildly differently to the ending he might have envisaged. Jasprit Bumrah, as is his wont, played his role as the scourge of the cricket stump to seal India's series-levelling victory while Anderson watched on helplessly from 22 yards away.

It brought to end a weirdly cagey Test match in which India were in front from the time the coin went up and stayed there through the course, but were forced to repeatedly look over their shoulders with a sense of creeping jeopardy.

The final day, under a bruised late-winter haze on the east coast of India, was another high-throttle affair and brought to fore these two opposing forces. Eventually old truisms and subcontinental stereotypes held sway against new methods.

To be fair, 332 runs is a lot of runs to score on the fourth day of a Test match in India. That such a chase was still given a 30 percent win possibility by Shubman Gill at the end of Day 3 was a function of three parts: The blaze of Bazball, England's recent success with it and the fact that the Vizag pitch itself, barring a few cracks that caused the odd differential in bounce, hadn't deteriorated to unplayable levels.

But while the climax itself might have felt familiar - India winning by over a 100 runs - the script was slightly tweaked through the middle as England dared to dream right till the end.

Bumrah was always going to be the visitors' big threat at the start of the day's play with early-morning moisture aiding seam bowling over the previous two days. But England got through his first five-over burst unscathed. Curiously, however, India opted to partner him with Axar Patel with a plan of defending from the other end. Nightwatcher Rehan Ahmed managed to hit him for a pair of boundaries, and after half an hour of play, England were 95/1 and purring along nicely. An odd misbehaving ball accounted for Rehan but his brisk 23 had set the tone for the chase.

But Indian bowlers, as a species, are rarely bettered at home. Not in conditions they know so well. Not least Ashwin and Bumrah. In keeping with the theme of the Test, Ashwin had endured a funny first-few days and went wicketless in a completed Test innings at home for only the fifth time and the first since 2019. But he was already on the board at the second time of asking and that wicket of Ben Duckett late on Day 3 reunited him with an old ally - bounce - who was MIA in Hyderabad.

And it needed a pitch like this to rationalise Ashwin's gifts. There was not as much turn as he'd have seen on a fourth-day wicket at home and England's trailblazing approach had also cut into the number of catching men around the bat. So Ashwin went to his other toys: flight, dip and bounce. It may not have had the thrills and spills of some of his other spells, but it was truly fascinating to see England batters of the class of Ollie Pope and Joe Root stretch forward in defence after spotting the trajectory but there being enough space between where their bats got to and the pitching spot.

It was this magic of the dip that yanked Root horribly off shape as he reiterated his allegiance to the new order. Pope was dismissed the other way: going back to a delivery that was too full to cut with the ensuing edge snaffled brilliantly at slip by Rohit. Between them, Root and Pope played only 31 balls for 39 runs, 34 of which came in boundaries.

As Crawley, Ben Foakes and even Tom Hartley showed later in the evening, there was a chance to temper their approach just a bit, hold back on the indulgence and sentiment on a day of Test cricket where, for once, the task in hand seemed to have gotten a little easier after they had India worried.

Once Ashwin also got into the act, England were up against it, given they also had the overwhelming inevitability of an old-ball Bumrah spell to go through. They couldn't. It brought forth another truism of Test cricket, that Test matches will invariably be won by the team possessing a deeper and penetrative attack.

That said, massive credit is due to England for staying strong even as the toll rose. It was yet another example of the ability of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum to harden their teams up for the roller-coaster of their play, regardless of the supposed odds. No visiting team in over a decade has got an India captain to station sweepers on either side of the wicket and force defensive, run-saving plays out of him.

So, on we go to Rajkot, for the next chance to tie up those ends, to sway the narrative of this delicately poised series either way.