Ashwin bags nine in his 100th Test as India cruise to innings win

It ended in an avalanche of wickets in the foothills of the Himalayas, as England's bid to scale the heights on their tour of India descended into the depths of an innings defeat in Dharamsala, and an ignominious 4-1 series scoreline that - on this final, sorry evidence, if not the feistier fare that had preceded it - was an apt reflection of the enduring gulf between the sides.

At least James Anderson scaled his own peak, claiming his 700th Test wicket in the day's opening exchanges, to achieve an altitude that surely no other seam bowler will ever challenge. But it was left to another of Test cricket's most enduring performers to put his personal seal on a landmark contest, as R Ashwin - in his 100th Test - took his own tally to 516 and counting, with 5 for 77, his 36th five-wicket haul, as victory was sealed inside two sessions on the third afternoon.

Though magnificent throughout the match, it was during a mesmeric display before lunch that Ashwin unveiled his full sleight of hand. In that passage of play spanning 8.5 overs, and punctuated only by a crie de coeur from his fellow caps centurion, Jonny Bairstow, Ashwin claimed four of England's top six, including both openers for a total of two runs and their crestfallen captain, Ben Stokes, with the final ball of the session. Each victim was carved open in bespoke, surgical fashion - more of an autopsy, in fact, given the number of dead men walking straight into his extraordinary web of deceit.