England win Test series in India after 28 years

Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell save the day for England on final day

By Ashley Williams

LONDON, England (TheSportsNEXT) December 17, 2012: England have done it, and they have done it in great fashion as they played out the whole fifth day in Nagpur against Indian spinners on a spinners-friendly pitch which for some unknown reasons stopped helping spinners.

The Nagpur Test ended in a draw but victories in Mumbai and Kolkata after losing in Ahmedabad made sure England won the series by 2-1 to break the 28-year drought of winning a Test series on Indian soil.

When both skippers called it stumps on final day of the Nagpur Test, England had scored 352 for four in their second innings with Ian Bell (116*) and Joe Root (20*) at the crease.

Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell were the last England players to shine on Indian soil and they came good exactly when their country needed them the most to fire as the two batsmen constructed the biggest partnership of the whole Test series, i.e. 208 runs.

Jonathan Trott scored 143 runs from 310 balls in an innings that lasted for 405 minutes as the stylish batsman hit 18 boundaries to save the day for England who needed to survive Indian spinners to keep their 2-1 advantage in the series.

Trott was equally matched in performance by Ian Bell who resurrected his Test career and silenced his critics by scoring his first Test century in sub-continent as he remained unbeaten at 116 runs from 306 balls hitting 16 boundaries and a six during 403 minutes long innings.

England skipper Alastair Cook was declared Man of the Series for his mammoth stockpile of runs while James Anderson was named Man of the Match for his heroics with the reverse swinging cherry.