Alastair Cook hit a career-best 294 as a ruthless England buried India under a massive 486-run lead to leave the visitors with a daunting task of saving the third Test.
As a bowler, Stuart Broad recorded his best performance in a Test series, capturing 19 wickets at 11.73 runs apiece. His previous best tally in a Test series was 18 (ave.30.22) in the 2009 Ashes series (five Tests) against Australia.
A rampant England team brimming with confidence go into the third Test against India on Wednesday primed to claim the victory that would secure the world number one ranking from their opponents.
The opportunity to play Test cricket for England again may not have come the way he would have expected, but for Ravi Bopara it is an opportunity nonetheless.
England Cricket Board's Managing Director Hugh Morris believes the team's brilliant performance against world number one India in the ongoing Test series is a result of coach Andy Flower and captain Andrew Strauss' "outstanding leadership".
Morgan paid tribute to Brendon McCullum, saying the former New Zealand captain had made a deep impact on his leadership style.
India will, in all likelihood, go into the second Test against England at Trent Bridge, beginning Friday, with two of their crucial players missing from the line-up. While Zaheer Khan is certain to miss the Test (and maybe the third in Edgbaston as well), Gautam Gambhir also appears heading in the same direction, having suffered an elbow injury while fielding at short leg during the opening Test.
A merciless England, however, wrecked their title defence, crushing them by eight wickets with nearly 18 overs to spare.
Amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) on Friday has requested the International Cricket Council (ICC) to not place the two neighbouring countries in the same group during upcoming international events. "Keeping in mind that the [Indian] government has adopted a new strategy to isolate Pakistan and in view of the public sentiment in the country, we request ICC not to put India and Pakistan in the same pool of the multi-nation tournaments," the BCCI president Anurag Thakur said.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, despite being a cricket star like no other, was never entirely a cricket story. He was, still is and will always remain a social story.
Chief Magistrate Emma Louise Arbuthnot granted him bail till December 4.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ravi Jadeja are under consideration for an India recall against Bangladesh, as the two-time winners look to shake-up their team following a first World Cup defeat.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are India's main run-getters at the moment but they need some support from the rest of the batsmen, says former India batsman Krishnamachari Srikkanth.
India fast bowler Bumrah has achieved a career-high ranking of 33rd, after his three for 47 and three for 68 at Adelaide helped him to rise five places.
Sunil Joshi is backing Bangladesh's spin bowlers, led by the in-form Shakib Al Hasan, to hold their own against India when their World Cup campaign continues next week.
India goes into the fourth Test against England on a track that is batsman-friendly, swing-less, as compared to other English grounds, and will assist spinners as the game progresses, says Bikash Mohapatra.
Rediff's resident expert Rajneesh Gupta replies to questions from readers.
Durham paceman Graham Onions has been called into the England squad as bowling cover ahead of the fourth and final test against India starting at The Oval on Thursday.
Relishing the new role of being India's strike bowler in absence of an injured Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, on Sunday, said he is completely fit and doesn't need a surgery to fix his left ankle.
In no way it could have changed the course of the match. However, it could very much have prolonged it, taking it into a fifth day.
For a captain on a roll, it is nothing sort of an embarrassment. For someone who has never tasted defeat previously, it is a bitter pill to swallow.
Coming into the series, Andrew Strauss's men needed to beat India by a margin of two or more Tests to usurp the No.1 ICC Test ranking from India.
The innings and 336 runs defeat against the West Indies in 1958 remains India's worst in Test cricket.
Former England captain Geoffrey Boycott has questioned India's plummeting No 1 Test status, calling Mahendra Singh Dhoni's squad a "shadow of an average team".
As a bowler, Stuart Broad recorded his best performance in a Test series, capturing 19 wickets at 11.73 runs apiece. His previous best tally in a Test series was 18 (ave.30.22) in the 2009 Ashes series (five Tests) against Australia.
