India v England, 2014

At Manchester, August 7-9. England won by an innings and 54 runs. Toss: India.
The morning after this briefest of Tests, Manchester woke to a grey sky and unrelenting rain. In the England hotel there would have been sore heads - very sore in the case of Broad, who was nursing a broken nose. India's players, meanwhile, nursed bruised egos and battered reputations. When they had started their second innings at 2.35 on the third afternoon in front of Old Trafford's only full house of the match, they needed to survive 61 overs to take the Test into a fourth day - for which the prospects of play were, according to every forecast, non-existent. Less than four hours later, with 18 overs still to go, they had been beaten out of sight by an England team armed with only two fully fit pace bowlers.

India's response to defeat in the Third Test had been to make three changes, though they also spent the intervening days wringing yet more unpleasantness out of the Anderson-Jadeja soap opera. Rather than regroup, they wasted their emotional energy on a failed attempt to undermine England's attack leader. By the end there was only one winner. Despite not having eaten for 48 hours because of a stomach bug, Anderson took two second-innings wickets for a match haul of five for 64, while Jadeja - one of India's heroes at Lord's - had faded into irrelevance.

Dhoni's decision to bat first would have been sound enough had it been based purely on the pitch - "rock hard" according to Michael Vaughan - but it was undermined by the atmospherics when play began after a half hour rain delay. In England's pre-match huddle, Cook's body language spoke of a man back from the brink, reinvigorated by victory in Southampton, and in charge of an unchanged side, despite clamour for Steven Finn. From the off, his field placings - four slips and a gully - confirmed a bullish change of tack.

Gambhir, coming in for Shikhar Dhawan - whose six innings in the series had produced a best of 37 - had not played a first-class match for six months, nor a Test for 20. During India's 2011 whitewash in England, he had cowered at Broad's aggression. So it should have been little surprise to anyone, least of all the Indian management, when he lasted a mere seven balls before edging Broad to gully. A dozen runless deliveries later, India were eight for four - a remarkable passage of play that recalled the second-innings surge by Fred Trueman at Headingley in 1952, when they were four down before they had scored.

Anderson's opening spell, in which he had Vijay and Kohli caught by Cook at first slip - making theirs the most prolific bowler-fielder combination in England's Test history, overtaking 22 by Bob Willis and Ian Botham - was an outrageous exhibition of swing bowling. As the ball hooped lavishly both ways, it was like watching Cristiano Ronaldo mesmerising a defender with a flurry of stepovers. In front of his home crowd, Anderson was showing his class; at times, it felt as if he was just showing off. When he removed Jadeja straight after lunch, all eyes were on the bowler's reaction. But, for all the fist pumps, there were no words - or writs.

In a recent magazine interview Dhoni had admitted prioritising his country over his wife. And pride, whether professional or national, was at the heart of his counter-attacking 71. His partner during a total-doubling seventh-wicket stand of 66, Ashwin - finally given a game, in place of Rohit Sharma - described Dhoni's effort as "a very gutsy knock". Dhoni was ninth out when he heaved to deep square leg off Broad, who took four for six in 21 balls to complete India's sorry first innings for 152. His figures of six for 25 were his third-best in Tests, while India's innings contained a record-equalling six ducks.

For the first time in the series England had to contend with Varun Aaron, a stocky quick bowler playing his second Test, having ousted the disappointing Mohammed Shami. After beating Cook for pace with his fourth ball, he had him caught on the long-leg boundary for 17 with his seventh. He had the raw speed to unnerve batsmen, but not the control to defend such a small total. Ballance and Bell rattled along to take England to within 39 of India's score, before Aaron trapped Ballance just before stumps on the first day. Only 36 overs were possible on day two, which was embarrassing for Old Trafford and frustrating for England who, after losing three before lunch, were reasserting their authority through Root and Buttler. Heavy afternoon rain left puddles at the Brian Statham End, despite a supposedly efficient drainage system. By the time play was abandoned at 5.40, Lancashire's director of cricket Mike Watkinson was conducting contrite media interviews about the state of the outfield, part of which now resembled the sort of surface once associated with the other Old Trafford next door.

On a sunny and breezy third day, the Saturday crowd got more than they bargained for. Root reached another fifty, and continued to build a match-winning partnership with Buttler, his junior partner in terms of Test experience, if not age or confidence. The maturity and awareness of these two 23-year-olds bore all the hopeful hallmarks of a new era. When the second new ball came after half an hour, England's statement of intent was immediate. A scampered single off the first ball was followed by a crunching cover-drive from Buttler off Bhuvneshwar Kumar to take England's lead past 100. It was the first boundary in 13 overs, and was followed by a square-drive for four more.

India's outcricket descended to the village green. Buttler was dropped on 34 by Kohli in the slips, and should have been run out on 44, but Dhoni - whose captaincy was ceasing to bear serious scrutiny - failed to gather Aaron's return. The only shock came when Root, on 77, flicked a leg-side catch to Dhoni off Pankaj Singh, who had seemingly waited for ever for a Test wicket and, two days previously, had taken a catch in front of an advertisement for The Samaritans. It was Pankaj's 416th Test delivery; raising his arms aloft, he managed to look sheepish rather than excited. But when his clever slower ball sent Buttler on his way for 70, it merely hastened the next ordeal for India's batsmen.

Late lunchers missed a brief but compelling over, and those of a squeamish disposition were glad they did. Broad hooked the third delivery of the session, from Aaron, over square leg for six, and repeated the dose next ball. When he attempted a hat-trick of sixes, the ball flew not over the boundary, but off a thin top-edge and between the peak of his helmet and the grille. He turned, crouched and raised a gloved hand to request assistance.

As blood dripped into the bowlers' footmarks it was clear he had sustained a serious injury, which he confirmed later in the modern style - a selfie on Twitter. Broad's pretty boy looks had been spoiled by a broken, cut nose and shiners that would develop into full blown panda eyes by the next Test (where he swapped his Ayrtek helmet for a Masuri). He retired hurt, walking gingerly from the field with his eyes closed; soon after, England were all out for 367, a lead of 215.

The prospect of a three-day finish seemed slim, given Broad's absence and Anderson's demeanour, which - even by his lugubrious standards - suggested he was not feeling too chipper. India lost one wicket before tea, as Vijay fell leg-before to a terrific inswinger from Woakes, now entrusted with the new ball. It was his first wicket of the series, and his second in Tests, almost a year after he had removed Australia's James Faulkner at The Oval. And it opened the floodgates.

After tea, India were washed away once more. Even an under-the-weather Anderson was too good for Gambhir, who gloved down the leg side, and Kohli, who was fifth out, edging tamely to second slip - as if Anderson could now do with him as he wished. Falling to high-class seam and swing in its natural habitat was one thing, but India's continued timidity against Ali's under-construction off-spin was beyond comprehension. He got lucky with an lbw decision against Pujara, who played outside an off-break that would have missed leg stump. But India could not simply blame misfortune: Rahane mistimed a drive straight back to Ali, and Jadeja dabbed to Jordan at slip. They had lost five for 13 in 29 balls. Dhoni counter-attacked again, but the manner of his demise - slogging at Ali as he advanced down the pitch - was as tame as the two-handed diving catch at midwicket by Ballance was brilliant.

Jordan was deprived of the wicket of Kumar, caught in the slips off a no-ball, but ended the match with a flourish, dismissing Aaron and - with an inswinging yorker - Pankaj in successive deliveries. Wasted on the No. 11 it might have been, but it sent Jordan wheeling away in celebration, a packed Old Trafford into throaty rapture, and England into a remarkable 2-1 lead. The last time India had played a Test at Old Trafford, in 1990, an England player - Derbyshire's John Morris - also had to go to hospital after a batting injury. And India had found themselves in trouble in their second innings. Back then, they were saved by a maiden century from a 17-year-old Sachin Tendulkar. Twenty-four years on, their resistance, like Tendulkar, was absent altogether.
Man of the Match: S. C. J. Broad.