India v England: 5 things we learnt from the hosts' 4-0 series win

Virat Kohli-led Indian cricket team on Tuesday scripted a sensational win against England in the fifth and final Test in Chennai to cap off a memorable 4-0 series win. Powered by Ravindra Jadeja's seven-wicket haul, the hosts beat Alastair Cook's men by an innings and 75 runs at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium. The win extended the Indian team's unbeaten run to 18 Tests. Skipper Kohli was awarded the man of the series award for accumulating 655 runs in the series, while young batsman Karun Nair was declared man of the match for his historic knock of 303* runs. After dominating the Rajkot Test, England were thoroughly outplayed by the Indian side in the remaining encounters.

King Kohli reigns supreme

The 28-year-old achieved new highs in 2016 with five successive series wins as captain and three double centuries. Dubbed 'King Kohli', he hit an impressive 235 in the fourth Test in Mumbai to pass 1,000 runs in Test cricket for the year and take his career total past 4,000. He then followed it up with 167 in the second Test in Visakhapatnam and finished as the series top-scorer with 655 runs.

Captain Cook nears exit

Cook fuelled doubts about his future as England captain before the first Test when he said he was finding it hard to be away from his family. After a trademark 130 in the draw in Rajkot, the left-hander failed to make an impact in the remaining matches. The clamour grew for him to step aside and let vice-captain Joe Root take charge soon after India crushed England in the Mumbai Test to seal the series. After England's shocking batting collapse to lose the final Test in Chennai on Tuesday, the 31-year-old may decide to finally step down.

Runs no problem for India

Not just Kohli but all the batsmen made key contributions in tricky situations during the five-match Test series. Karun Nair smashed an astonishing unbeaten 303 while KL Rahul fell just one short of a double century in Chennai. Ravichandran Ashwin averaged 43.71 batting at seven, while Ravindra Jadeja made 90 in Mohali and Jayant Yadav bludgeoned 104 in Mumbai. Murali Vijay also impressed, as did Cheteshwar Pujara.

England can cling to young hope

Amidst the carnage England did discover promising new batting talent for the top of the order in the shape of 19-year-old Haseeb Hameed and South African-born Keaton Jennings. Hameed made 31 and 82 on debut, While 24-year-old Jennings scored 112 in his maiden Test knock. If Cook and Hameed open, then Jennings could slot in at number three for the Poms. In-form Root would then play in his preferred number four slot giving England a better balance to their batting order as Moeen Ali could drop back down to seven or eight.

More heat over DRS

The Decision Review System (DRS) umpiring technology was used for the first time in a Test series featuring India during this England tour. While India had an audio tool to detect the sound of the ball grazing bat or glove, and ball-tracking technology, the use of thermal imaging was conspicuous by its absence. The 'Hot Spot' technology is widely used by other Test-playing nations, but was unavailable in India due to logistical issues. So while Kohli gave the technology a big thumbs-up, observers said that DRS still needs to be applied uniformly across the game's arenas.

(With inputs from AFP)