England routed India by an innings and 242 runs in the third Test at Edgbaston on Saturday to claim India’s crown as the world’s No.1 side.
England’s bowlers ripped through India on day four, dismissing them for 244, with James Anderson taking 4-85 as the home side secured an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the four-Test series.
“We’ve been pretty clinical,” England captain Strauss said.
“I’m very proud for myself and for Andy (Flower, England’s coach) and all his staff but ultimately it’s the players who’ve got to take the plaudits.”
An eighth-wicket stand of 75 between India’s top scorer Mahendra Singh Dhoni (74 not out) and Praveen Kumar (40) delayed England’s coronation, but Tim Bresnan wrapped up the victory when he had Sreesanth caught by Kevin Pietersen at gully.
“It was a classic example of being outplayed at the top level,” India’s captain Dhoni said.
“It doesn’t hurt to lose the No.1 ranking – it hurts to lose each and every game we play. We play throughout the year and every time we lose it hurts.”
The tourists began on 1-35 and failed to add a run before Gautam Gambhir was out.
Having generated significant turn on Friday evening, Swann bowled the first over, a maiden.
Anderson then removed Gambhir with the seventh ball of the morning, drawing an edge that flew straight to Swann at second slip.
Sachin Tendulkar received his second standing ovation of the Test from the Edgbaston crowd but he was lucky to survive the rest of the over.
Rahul Dravid was next to fall, caught behind without adding to his overnight score of 18.
Dravid ran off the field moments before his dismissal, apparently needing to answer a call of nature, and after sprinting back to the crease he lasted just two balls before he was caught behind off an Anderson outswinger.
Dravid walked without asking for a referral, although the hotspot camera – maligned for its unreliability during this series – showed no contact and other replays suggested his bat had brushed his bootlaces rather than the ball.
VVS Laxman lasted 21 balls before he was caught behind off an unplayable delivery from Anderson for 2 and Suresh Raina was then dropped by Strauss off Swann.
Raina showed fleeting aggression for 10, but was lbw to Swann in the 29th over.
Raina was reluctant to leave the field and he appeared to ask umpire Steve Davis for a review, even though India vetoed use of the Decision Review System for lbw decisions for this series.
The batsman only departed after a discussion with Tendulkar, whose subsequent dismissal for 40 was desperately unlucky.
Dhoni drove solidly against Swann, but the bowler cleverly diverted the ball onto the stumps at Tendulkar’s end, running him out – after a television review – by millimeters.
Amit Mishra’s aggression proved his undoing in the third over of the afternoon session as he tried to drive Swann and was caught by a diving Stuart Broad at mid off for 22.
Praveen Kumar sliced his first ball for four, gloved another just over Swann and then decided to go out with a flourish, smashing Swann for a four and two sixes off successive balls.
That saved India from the ignominy of its worst ever test defeat – by an innings and 336 runs against West Indies in 1958 – and enlived the crowd, but he eventually fell for 40 to Broad, caught by Ravi Bopara at mid-off.
Ishant Sharma was lbw to Broad for a duck and the victory was sealed when Bresnan drew Sreesanth into an edge that flew straight to Pietersen.
ChrisT
Roar Pro
And there you have it Brendon. Some key players have four more years experience and some new ones have been found. It’s called improving your squad. It’s not simply investing in a Sasco year planner – or maybe CA should stop the investigation right now and just get themselves down Officeworks? Face it Brendon. England are simply better right now. It's OK.
Aware
Guest
Interesting points, Dasilva. But surely India are wise enough to go into a test series with the correct preparation? They should have insisted on a better preparation program. It's not as if they don't have influence any more.
ChrisT
Guest
Nope. The lemons are all yours mate.
Brendon
Roar Rookie
Look at England's preparation for the 2006/07 Ashes. Look at England preparation for the 2010/11 Ashes. Look at how England perform in ODI's - a format they more or less have said they dont care about.
Brendon
Roar Rookie
I see 16 years of sporting domination has made some English fans bitter.
ChrisT
Roar Pro
Yep. That'll be it Brendon. That's what undid Australia. It's all about preparation. Nowt to do with the fact that the English simply had the better players. Still sucking lemons after all this time huh.
dasilva
Guest
I'm not really trying to excuse India poor performance It is multifactorial. One of them is poor preparation, one of them is injuries and another is the fact that this English team is one of the strongest side in recent history and that india has underperform My main point is that India aren't hopeless on bouncy pitches as shown by their performance in South Africa and in the previous tour in England where they defeated them. Therefore it is a big achievement for England to completely trashed them and people shouldn't be downplaying that achievement by saying that India never deserved the number one spot (before this current series India were the only side in world cricket to beat England home and away in their last played test series) India should learn to be more well prepared and perhaps not picking players who are clearly not fit. It probably wouldn't have change the result of the series but I do think it would have made them a little bit more competitive.
Hansie
Guest
The hardest part about England being the #1 team is that they deserve the ranking. That hurts! Well done to them.
Aware
Guest
That's a very lame excuse, Dasilva. Few teams play many warm up games anymore. Just the same, old fashioned tours should be returned to give touring teams every chance. England seemed to have clicked into top gear in all aspects of the game like magic. I find it very odd. Second last time Jimmy Anderson came to Australia he couldn't get a ball on line.
Aware
Guest
No. I didn't miss anything. Australia beat South Africa in South Africa with a vastly inferior team than India's (according to reputation anyway). South Africa have been very inconsistent at home.
dasilva
Guest
Also India defeated England in the previous tour with a similar side (although the previous side was a bit stronger with Kumble and a fit Khan and Sehwag). Although admittingly Zaheer Khan was the key bowler in that series and they missed him badly this series I just think it's a lack of match practice in combined with the English team being stronger than ever. Even in the previous tour where India won 1-0. India were completely underdone in the first test and rain helped save them a draw. They eventually fought back to win the series and improved as the tour went on. This time they have to realised that you may occasionally win test series against good opposition without appropriate match practice sometimes but the majority of the time you are going ot get punished as shown in this series.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Aware, You missed the 2010-11 tour of South Africa by India, then ? Splitting the series 1-1 with a draw against Morkel and Steyn at home was what made me go 'India are the best side in the world'. That was then, and this is now, however.
Galaxy Hop
Guest
Australia won a match (by more than an innings) and drew one too in the last Ashes series. So clealry wasn't as brutal a beating.
Aware
Guest
The real story is India. How did they get so high in the ratings only to be destroyed in this manner? Missing one player, Zaheer Khan, surely cannot make that much difference? Tendulkar was unlucky to be out the way he was, but he hasn't dominated in this series, so he is either past it or, like most of his colleagues, is not that great away from low, slow sub-continent wickets, or against much weaker opposition. From what I've seen of the TV coverage, it seems the Indian batsmen can't cope with the bounce of the English fast bowlers and their own bowlers are not fast enough or accurate enough to trouble the English/South African batsmen.
Brendon
Roar Rookie
England deserve the number 1 ranking but they've still yet to beat South Africa. SA beat them in 2008 and drew in 2010. I'm sure the Proteas wont be as stupid as Australia and India and go into their next series against England with a bad and underdone preparation.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Clearly, you missed the last Ashes series then.
clipper
Guest
They deserve the No. 1 ranking. The coach and captain have transformed England from a good side to a great side. Such is their depth, they hardly notice that two of their star players (Trott and Swann) are having an average series.
jus de couchon
Guest
India were thrashed . The Empire is restored.
Viscount Crouchback
Guest
I haven't witnessed such a brutal beasting since boarding school. Well done, chaps!