On this day, February 18,2024: India beat England by 434 runs in Rajkot Test. This was India’s biggest Test win in margin of runs. India were batting first and lost three wickets quickly and were reduced to 33/3. But Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja put up a big partnership of more than 200 runs as India came back into the game.
Rohit Sharma was dismissed for 131 and in came Sarfaraz Khan who also scored a half century. Ravindra Jadeja completed a terrific century as India kept piling the runs. India finished with 445 at the end of the first innings. From the England bowlers it was Mark Wood who was the pick of the bowlers picking up four wickets. It was a good total on a surface that was very good for batting.
England started quite beautifully in the second innings as Ben Duckett took the attack to the opposition. England were cruising at 224/2 at one stage with Ben Duckett doing the bulk of the scoring. From that position England collapsed to 299/7 as Siraj and Bumrah struck multiple times. Ben Duckett was dismissed for 153 but apart from him no one could do well and England were bowled out for 319 in the second innings. They gave away a lead of 120 to India.
The pitch was still very good for batting and India proved it in the third innings as the piled-up mountain of runs to completely bat England out of the game. Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal smashed a double century while Shubman Gill made 91 as India reached 430/4 at the end of the third innings as they declared the innings leaving more than 550 runs for England to chase in the final innings.
England were bowled out for mere 122 runs in the final innings as Ravindra Jadeja picked up five wickets and Kuldeep Yadav took two wickets to ensure India won the Rajkot match by a massive margin of 434 runs. It was the highest margin of Test win for India. Ravindra Jadeja won the player of the match for his all-round performance.
