India produced a ruthless performance with the ball on Saturday to crush England by an innings and 64 runs in the fifth and final Test to clinch the series 4-1 in Dharamsala.
The hosts added just 4 runs to their overnight total of 473 before getting bowled out in the 125th over to take a massive first innings lead of 259 runs which took out any chances of an England fightback.
The visitors were expected to come out all guns blazing with their Bazball approach in the second innings but their plans were completely derailed by Ravichandran Ashwin, who ran through the England top-order with the new ball.
Ashwin takes five-for in his 100th Test
The Tamil Nadu off-spinner, playing his 100th Test, bagged his 36th five-wicket haul while vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav took a couple of scalps each as India bundled out England for 195 in less than three sessions on Day 3 to finish the match.
Former captain Joe Root was the only batter who showed some resistance towards the Indian bowling attack and tried his best to delay the inevitable with his innings of 84. But his knock was cut short before he could get to his 32nd Test hundred.
Rohit & Gill star with the bat
Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill led India with centuries, complemented by notable fifties from debutant Devdutt Padikkal, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Sarfaraz Khan.
"When you win a Test like this, everything has to fall in place...The way bowlers took responsibility was pleasing to see," said an elated India captain Rohit Sharma.
Despite England's lackluster performance, James Anderson's achievement of taking his 700th wicket provided a glimmer of success for the visitors.
Stokes concedes defeat to 'better' Team India
Ahead of the final game of their long tour, Stokes had dismissed theories of the departure lounge syndrome but with the way his batters performed, it seemed they were in a hurry to get back home.
"We have been outplayed by the better team of the series...When you look at the series as a whole, in those small moments we haven't been able to keep it going," he admitted at the end of a humbling outing.
Here are the summary scores:
England: 218 and 195 all out in 48.1 overs (Joe Root 84, Jonny Bairstow 39; Ravichandran Ashwin 5/77). India: 477 all out in 124.1 overs (Shubman Gill 110, Rohit Sharma 103, Devdutt Padikkal 65; Shoaib Bashir 5/173).
