India v England, 2016-17

At Chennai, December 16-20, 2016. India won by an innings and 75 runs. Toss: England. Test debut: L. A. Dawson.
England's previous Test at Chennai, in December 2008, had taken place in the shadow of the Mumbai terror attacks. Eight years on, they were greeted by a natural calamity: Cyclone Vardah had swept through the city four days before the start. Thousands of trees were uprooted, and normal life had ground to a halt, but intrepid groundstaff repaired a fallen sightscreen, and used trays of hot coals to dry the pitch. The cricket had to go on.

India were thankful it did. Years from now, England will still be scratching their heads and wondering how they lost. They kept Ashwin to match figures of one for 207 on his home ground, and dismissed Pujara and Kohli for a combined 31. Yet they ended up breaking some grim records: no team had lost a Test by an innings after scoring more than their 477 first time round, nor conceded more in an innings against India.

As they had throughout the series, the Indians found heroes for every decisive passage of play. Ishant Sharma, in his first Test of the home season, was a constant threat, while Jadeja kept England from disappearing over the horizon on the first day. With the bat, Rahul and Patel stitched together India's first three-figure opening partnership in 18 months. That was built on by a colossal triple-century from Karun Nair, in only his third Test. With England left to negotiate the final day, it was Jadeja - his pace and trajectory perfect for a placid surface - who landed the telling blows to give India four Test wins in a series against England for the first time.

That had seemed implausible at tea on the second day, with England having ridden on Ali's 146 and the lower-order pluck of Rashid and debutant Liam Dawson to secure a handy total. Following the early demise of Jennings and Cook - who had reached 11,000 Test runs from the first ball of the match, pushing Umesh Yadav into the covers for two - Ali had been fortunate to get off the mark, an uppish flick off Jadeja bursting through Rahul's hands at midwicket. But once he settled, he played some delightful strokes, wresting the initiative away from India with the help of Root. Ali was initially flummoxed by Ashwin's variations, but Root's more decisive footwork helped upset the spinners' rhythm. He played a succession of superb sweeps, while Ali was unafraid to hit Mishra's leg-breaks against the turn and on the up, even if Mishra - recalled in place of the hamstrung Jayant Yadav - was serving up some freebies.

The partnership was worth 146 by the time Jadeja had Root caught behind sweeping for a very Rootish 88 shortly before tea: Kohli asked for a review, and UltraEdge showed the thinnest of bottom edges. But there was no let-up in England's intensity. Bairstow smashed Jadeja for a straight six and, after the break, heaved him and Ashwin over midwicket.

With Ali making languid progress, India were in danger of wilting in the late-afternoon heat. Once more, a false shot opened the door - Bairstow, too early on the drive, lofting Jadeja to short cover to depart for 49. A lovely inside-out drive off Mishra took Ali to 99, then a tap and run to his second hundred of the series, and fourth of the year. At stumps, England were a commanding 284 for four.

India needed a little over an hour to redress the balance next morning. Stokes feathered the fifth ball, from Sharma, who then persuaded Buttler to play round a straight one. Ali lofted Ashwin for six, then clipped him through midwicket, but grew jittery against the short stuff, used sparingly the previous day. Sharma greeted Dawson with a bouncer that thudded into his helmet, though it was Ali who fell next, top-edging Umesh's fourth delivery after drinks to Jadeja in the deep.

At 321 for seven, another sub-par total loomed for England, but Dawson and Rashid were in defiant mood. They built slowly at first, but played some attractive shots as confidence soared with the mercury. Kohli tried several combinations, but nothing worked, and Mishra came in for heavy punishment. The partnership was worth 108, England's highest in India for the eighth wicket, by the time Rashid flailed at Umesh. But Broad clattered 19, his highest Test score of the year, and both Dawson and Ball struck sixes in an Ashwin over that cost 17. A Mishra googly ended India's misery, leaving Dawson unconquered on 66 - the highest score by an England No. 8 on debut, surpassing David Bairstow's 59 against India at The Oval in 1979.

India needed to start well, and Rahul and Patel - opening because Vijay had injured his shoulder - married circumspection with some pleasing shots before stumps. Their intent was clear the following morning: Rahul twice struck Dawson down the ground, while Patel was typically busy. Runs came at a clip, before Patel finally fell for a Test-best 71, to a leading edge off Ali. England got the ball changed three deliveries into the second session, and Stokes snared Pujara with the replacement, driving loosely at one that shaped away. Kohli strode out to loud cheers, but failed for the first time in the series, picking out Jennings at short cover as Broad came round the wicket.

With India 211 for three, England had a glimmer - but Rahul, having eased to a century thanks to an overthrow, consolidated with the help of a man he first met when they were 11. Nair had seemed ill at ease in his first two appearances, but a sumptuous straight-drive off Broad got him going. England dried up the runs after Ball struck Rahul in the ribs. But when Nair edged Ball on 34, the chance brushed Cook's fingertips at slip on the way to the boundary, and when he survived a review off Ali on 69, England sensed it wouldn't be their day. They had to settle for spoiling Rahul's. On 199, he latched on to a poor delivery from Rashid - and sliced it to Buttler at point, sinking to his haunches in despair. Among Indian batsmen, only Mohammad Azharuddin - 30 years earlier, against Sri Lanka at Kanpur - had been dismissed one short of a Test double.

Vijay fell next morning for 29, giving Dawson his first Test wicket. And India were kept to 72 in the session, thanks to the thrift of both Dawson and Stokes, who took a chunk out of Nair's bat, but not before he had reached his maiden Test hundred. What followed was carnage. If the ball was full, he drove or swept, orthodox and reverse; if it was short, he pulled and cut. When Nair had 154, Bairstow caught a reverse sweep off Rashid but, with few supporting his appeal, the umpire wasn't interested. Ashwin was the perfect foil, as Nair went from 100 to 200 in 121 balls. By the time Buttler took a brilliant catch to send back Ashwin, they had added 181.

The punishment wasn't over. Root dropped Nair at slip off Ball on 217, and Bairstow fluffed a stumping off Ali on 246. Nair's bat then produced tom-tom drumbeats against the tired Rashid and Ali. With Jadeja racing to a half-century in 52 deliveries, the two added 138 in 115. Nair's third hundred needed just 75, making him only the second Test player - after Wally Hammond at Auckland in 1932-33 - to pass 200 and 300 in the same session. In all, he struck 32 fours and four sixes; only Virender Sehwag (twice) had scored more for India. They declared on 759 for seven, beating their 726 for nine against Sri Lanka at Mumbai's Brabourne Stadium in 2009-10. It was also the most England had conceded, surpassing 751 for five by West Indies in Antigua in 2003-04, when Brian Lara made his 400 not out.

Trailing by 282, England negotiated the fifth morning to raise hopes of a draw. And, although Kohli didn't bring Jadeja on until the 20th over of the day, it was the catalyst for a stunning collapse. After an opening stand of 103, Cook fell to him for the sixth time in the series, flicking to leg slip; Jennings was caught and bowled, deceived in the flight, and Root given out lbw on review after missing a sweep. Bairstow then checked a flick off Sharma, only for Jadeja to hare towards deep midwicket and take a stunning catch over his shoulder. Like Root, Bairstow had fallen just short of overhauling Michael Vaughan's England record of 1,481 Test runs in a calendar year.

England were four down at tea, but the meltdown - when it came - was spectacular. Ali was taken athletically by Ashwin at mid-on, and Stokes chipped to Nair at short midwicket. Dawson fell to a Mishra googly, Rashid to the new ball, and Broad to backward short leg. When Ball edged - fittingly, to Nair - Jadeja had taken seven for 48 and, for the first time, ten in the match; as at Mumbai, England had lost their last six wickets for 15. It was a day that summed up their cataclysmic tour, with isolated pockets of defiance not nearly enough against a rampaging India.
Man of the Match: K. K. Nair. Man of the Series: V. Kohli.