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Cricket

England complete historic series win

England won their first series in India since 1985 after playing out a draw on the fifth day of the fourth Test at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur.

Ian Bell was unbeaten on 116 while Jonathon Trott, the only man to be dismissed on the day that started with India having an outside chance of levelling the series, made 143, with the stalemate ensuring England win the four-match series 2-1.

Joe Root (20) was the other unbeaten batsman as England finished at 4-352, with Ravi Ashwin (2-99) the only-wicket taker of the day as India lost their first home series since going down to Australia in 2004.

England resumed from their overnight score of 3-161 with India looking for early wickets to put pressure on the visitors.

But Trott and Bell proved to be too good for the mediocre Indian bowling, putting on 208 runs in 78.2 overs to ensure there were no hiccups in England's run towards the series win.

The pair took the side safely to lunch, adding 79 runs in 31 overs and looked set to play out another session without much trouble when Trott fell against the run of play.

The right-hander flicked an Ashwin delivery pitching in the rough outside the leg stump straight to leg slip, where Virat Kohli took a good sharp catch.

But Trott's wicket had come a little too late for India with the result of the match a foregone conclusion and Bell and Root were allowed to play out the remainder of the overs before the draw was agreed upon at the start of the mandatory overs.

The series loss comes as another blow to India's credentials as a top Test-playing nation after twin 4-0 defeats in England and Australia in the 2011-12 season.

Not many had expected India to surrender meekly in Mumbai and Kolkata after registering a nine-wicket win in the first Test in Ahmedabad.

But England, led from the front by skipper Alastair Cook, outplayed India in the last three Tests - the first time a team has won a series in India after losing the opening match.

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