India was handed its third consecutive series defeat against England as it was bowled out for 184 runs in the fourth Test at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, giving the hosts an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.
While everyone searched for someone to pin the blame on for yet another overseas Test series defeat, fans on social media reckoned Hardik Pandya must be dropped from the Indian team immediately.
Barring one five-wicket haul, the all-rounder has hardly had any impact on the series. Michael Holding had earlier said that he doesn't rate Pandya as a quality Test all-rounder and after the 24-year-old's duck on Sunday, fans on Twitter seemed to agree with the legendary West Indian fast-bowler.
Here are some tweets
The day's play started with England's score at 260 for the loss of eight wickets, with 20-year-old Sam Curran and Stuart Broad helping England add another 11 runs. Mohammed Shami dismissed Broad and a run out accounted for Curran's dismissal, setting up a challenging target of 245 for the visitors to keep the series alive.
The Indian innings started with the prevalent theme of disappointment for the openers as James Anderson and Broad got England off to the perfect start. KL Rahul (0 from 7) was sent back to the pavilion with Broad knocking over his stumps, and Cheteshwar Pujara (5 from 14), the star of India's first innings who scored an unbeaten 132 runs, quickly followed him after Anderson trapped him LBW.
India soon found themselves in a spot of bother as they lost their third for just 22 runs, with Shikhar Dhawan's wicket picked up by Anderson. Indian skipper Virat Kohli and his deputy Ajinkya Rahane then calmed the storm and partnered a 101-run stand to steer India away from trouble and give the visitors a chance to register their second win and keep the series alive.
However, Moeen Ali, the pick of the bowlers with a combined nine wickets to his name in the two innings, broke the partnership as he send the formidable Indian captain back to the pavilion. A ball brushed off Kohli's glove giving Alastair Cook at short leg an easy catch to end Kohli's 58-run knock.
With Kohli's wicket, India's hopes in the match and the series faded away as England got rid of the visitor's middle order and the tail end with consummate ease. Ali, who was named the man of the match, send Rahane (51), Rishab Pant (18) and Shami (8) packing while Ben Stokes dismissed Pandya and Ishant Sharma (0) before the innings was wrapped up by Curran as he trapped Ravichandran Ashwin (25) LBW.
The series defeat also marked the first instance where Kohli lost back-to-back Test series as captain since he took over the role from M. S. Dhoni in 2014, after the 2-1 defeat in South Africa in January. The fifth and final Test match will be played on September 7 at the Oval cricket ground in London. India's next series will see them travel to Australia in November for a three-match T-20I series, a four-match test series and a three-match ODI series.
(Inputs from ANI)
