Before the first ball was bowled, R Ashwin was felicitated, as was Jonny Bairstow. The Indian spinner received a guard of honour as the team walked onto the field. Once play began, Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley, did what they do best. They, somehow, survived Jasprit Bumrah and kept picking up the boundaries. Crawley, in particular, was ruthless when the ball was in his zone. He could have gotten out at least three times to Bumrah as the Indian pacer made the most of the moisture in the atmosphere to move the ball both ways. Crawley first survived, and then, thrived. The long levers came to good use as he took on Ashwin and Kuldeep even as Duckett got out to the latter in his very first over. At the stroke of lunch, Ollie Pope lost his patience and the plot, getting beaten by Kuldeep’s googly and was stumped by Dhruv Jurel.

Crawley, meanwhile, was unperturbed. He continued to pile on, hitting Kuldeep and Ashwin with and against the spin, tonking them down the ground and even driving them through the covers to bring up yet another half-century. Put a heavy metal rock song to his highlights package and it would have been fitting. It seemed like Crawley wa going to score his first century of the series with England going at over 3.5 runs per over. But then, Kuldeep happened.

Coming from around the wicket, he delivered a leg-spinner, which initially seemed like it would pitch on off-stump, but the drift took it away. Crawley adjusted, going for an expansive cover drive, but the ball beat the inside edge before spinning back into him and hitting the leg-stump. It was the kind of delivery Kuldeep’s idol, Shane Warne, would have been proud of. Crawley had to take the long walk back, wondering what actually happened. A while later, Kuldeep would outdo Bairstow before removing Stokes with a googly. A fitting five-wicket haul for the left-arm wrist spinner.

From thereon, Ashwin would take over as he ran through the visitors’ lower-order. From 175/3, they were bowled out for 218, crumbling against the Indian spinners on a pitch that did not have much demons. It was not a rank turner, nor was it playing tricks with uneven bounce. It was perhaps the most typical Indian track they have gotten in this series. Yet, having already lost the series 3-1, England looked clueless, letting go off an opportunity to post a big total.