England routed India 4-1. With the Indian openers failing to make an impact on the English bowlers, the final test saw some determined batting performance especially by opener KL Rahul and wicket-keeper batsman Rishab Pant at The Oval. With the tour of Australia coming up in December, the Indian selectors will have a tough time picking up the perfect openers along with the middle order batsmen. Hanuma Vihari can also get a call, as he is also a handy spinner with Hardik Pandya failing to impress with the bat.

Ravichandran Ashwin has not been bowling in the nets on Wednesday and was moving gingerly.

This helped Ravindra Jadeja make the cut and looks set to play his first Test on tour. The pitch bore a green tinge like all other wickets in this series.

The five tests

The five Tests including 22 nerve-wracking days included many twists and turns which gave cricket lovers value for money. For the Indian cricket fans, the final day of the final test was the most exciting one with an over 200-run partnership between opener KL Rahul and rookee Rishab Pant. Reeling at 120 for 5, the duo put up a valiant effort which led to some concerns for the English men. It was quite evident that the two Indian batsmen were not playing for a draw and definately had eyes on wining the final test match.

The tide turned once again when spinner Adil Rashid delivered a stunner of a delivery to KL Rahul which turned a mile from the rough patches from outside the leg stump and foxed the batsman completely.

The flood gates opened there after and the Indian batsmen were all out 345, thereby losing the match by 118 runs.

James Anderson sets a record

The Oval Test match also saw James Anderson becoming the most successful fast bowler in Test cricket, surpassing Australian legend Glen McGrath.

Anderson bowled Mohammed Shami to claim his 564th test wicket and is fourth in line behind Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne and Anil Kumble.

Asia Cup which is beginning this week in the UAE will also feature Pakistan.

The India selectors can rest Jasprit Bumrah and as such, Umesh Yadav could make a comeback into the side. It will be interesting to see as to how the Indian team go into the Asia Cup after 4-1 defeat to England.

India will face some stiff resistance in the Asia Cup with Virat Kohli being rested while on the other hand, teams like Pakistan and Sri Lanka will want to give their best.

Alastair Cook's farewell match

The dashing lefthander Alastair Cook has retired after The Oval game. He is also the sixth highest scorer in Test cricket. His batting career includes 12,254 runs which has 32 centuries. Cook who had an illustrious 12-year career, is England’s record run-scorer.

Alastair Cook made his Test debut in Nagpur on March 2006 where he scored a century and half-century thereby becoming only the fifth Englishman to do so, according to Pti News.

"I've always had that mental edge, I have always been mentally incredibly tough and had that edge to everything I have done but that edge had kind of gone. The thing I had found easy before was not quite there and to me, that was the biggest thing, Cook said.
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