India skipper Rohit Sharma said staying in the game for all five days was more important than winning in two or three days.
The sparkling victory saw the hosts go 2-1 up in the five-match series.
In a veiled dig at England over is ‘Bazball’ style of cricket after India steam-rolled the visitors by a massive 434 runs in the third Test at Rajkot, with a day to spare, skipper Rohit Sharma said staying in the game for all five days was more important than winning in two or three days. A five-wicket haul by ace all-rounder and first-innings centurion Ravindra Jadeja and top knocks from skipper Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, double centurion Yashasvi Jaiswal and debutant Sarfaraz Khan saw England sink to its knees and surrender to the hosts inside four days.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Rohit said, “When you play Test cricket, you do not play it in two or three days. You have to stay in the game for five days. They played good shots (in the second innings) and put us under pressure but we have got class in our squad when it comes to bowling. So obviously the message was to stay calm (after day two). Important that time to stay calm, otherwise you drift. We stuck to our plans on day three, and when those things happen, it is a delight.”
On Jadeja promoted to number five in the first innings and Sarfaraz Khan notching up two half-centuries in his debut Test, the India skipper said, “For this game, we thought he (Jadeja) has so much experience in this format, and scored lot of runs of late. We also wanted left-right batting as well. Sarfaraz being Sarfaraz, we know his quality, we wanted him to have some time before he comes out to bat. We saw what he can do with the bat. By no means is it some long plan with the batting order, we go with what is right for us for that Test match.
Yashasvi jaiswal 2nd 200 back to back.
Lavishing praise on young opener Jaiswal, who is in the form of his life in the ongoing series and brought his second double ton in Tests in the second innings at Rajkot, Rohit said, “I have spoken a lot about him. I am sure people outside the changing room have also been talking about him. I want to be calm about him, not talk a lot about him. He has started his career on a high.”
Jaiswal scored his second double-century in Tests after scoring his first one in the last Test. A key highlight of his knock was smashing veteran pace legend James Anderson for a hat-trick of sixes. Sarfaraz also scored his back-to-back half-century on Test debut. India ended the innings at 430/4, with Jaiswal (214* in 236 balls, 14 fours and 12 sixes) and Sarfaraz (68* in 72 balls, with six fours and three sixes) unbeaten to form a 172-run partnership for the fifth wicket.
Chasing 557, England was bundled out for just 122 runs in 39.4, losing the match by 434 runs. Ravindra Jadeja took 5/41, while Kuldeep Yadav took two wickets. Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah took a wicket each.
