England thrash India to become No. 1 in Tests

Birmingham: India were thumping their chest when they climbed onto the No. 1 Test ranking. Everyone, including the BCCI and the players, made merry riding on the success they tasted during the period. And then came the World Cup-winning campaign, which took their confidence, or overconfidence depending upon how we see it, to another level. But it all came to cipher when they lost all, their No. 1 spot and with that their respect as well, after losing the third Test against England by an innings and 242 runs.
India came into day four thinking of doing something unimaginable. They were 451 runs behind England's mammoth first innings' total of 710/7 declared when stumps were drawn on Friday and had nine wickets intact to do an Herculean task. But their top order fell like ninepins before Praveen Kumar (40 ) and MS Dhoni (74 not out) provided at least something to cheer for few thousands of the gloomy-looking Indian fans sitting inside Edgbaston and millions who witnessed their team being routed on television.
Except Dhoni and Praveen, who strung a 75-run stand in just 45 deliveries for the eight wicket, and Sachin Tendulkar - who struck a crisp 40 before being run-out standing at the non-striker's end - none of the Indian batsman showed any resistance against the pace and bounce of English seamers.
James Anderson proved to be the chief tormentor for the Indians in their second innings as the swing bowler took top four of their five batsmen that fell on day four.
Anderson, after accounting for Sehwag for a king pair, first got Gautam Gambhir (14) caught in the second slip to Graeme Swann in the second over of the day and later foxed Rahul Dravid (18) with a full-length delivery outside the off stump. The seasoned batsman though had not nicked the ball but thought he had and chose not to take the referral.

VVS Laxman (2) was Anderson's fourth victim as he poked at a delivery which he should have left well alone and gave a dolly to Matt Prior behind the wickets.
Suresh Raina (10) was trapped leg before wicket by Swann as India were reduced to 87/5 inside 30 overs.
Tendulkar (40), who looked the best among all the Indian batsmen, got run out when a straight drive by MS Dhoni touched Swann's fingers before rattling the stumps at the non-striker's end.
Amit Mishra hit few crisp shot in his brief knock of 22 before being caught brilliantly at mid-off by Stuart Broad off the bowling of Swann.
The visitors were still 370 runs behind England’s total, when players left for lunch, with Dhoni (9) and Mishra (15) at the crease.
Praveen, after being hit a snorter on his fingers by Anderson, started a counterattack. The Indian bowler, who had already crossed the 150-over mark in the series so far, started hitting sixes to off-spinner Swann. Praveen, at one stage, was playing on 40 in just 14 balls and looked to break the quickest fifty record. But he was undone by another bouncer by Stuart Broad.
Ishant Sharma was unlucky to be given out lbw to Broad's delivery which was missing the off stump when it hit him.
Tim Bresnan joined the wicket-taker's list when he got the last man, S Sreesanth (5), caught by Kevin Pietersen in gully.
Teams now head to London for the last Test at the Oval, which is rendered a dead rubber.