The Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy culminated in a dramatic final morning at The Oval, where India secured victory by just six runs. With the series ending in a 2-2 draw, Wisden writers have picked their combined team of the series.
KL Rahul
5 matches, 532 runs at 49.90, 2 hundreds, HS: 137
Among an XI peppered with young stars on the rise, and with the passing of a generation before the series, Rahul sticks out as one of the only remanence of India's previous era in their side. That experience and authority radiated at the top of the order, passing 50 in at least one inning of each Test and with two stand-out centuries, he reclaimed a position he wasn't nailed down in at the start of the series.
Ben Duckett
5 matches 479 runs at 77.63, 2 hundreds, HS: 149
Duckett gets in over Yashasvi Jaiswal in this XI, largely for the contextual importance of his best knocks. At Headingley, his match-winning 149 in the fourth innings gave him a player of the match award and England a series lead in a mammoth chase. He also scored 94 in Manchester in another strong opening stand, and his strike-rate of 82.94 was the highest of any batter in the series.
Joe Root
5 matches, 537 runs at 67.12, 3 hundreds, HS: 150
One of the key battles ahead of the series was of the No.4s, with India's young superstar Shubman Gill going up against England's greatest. While Root came out second in that particular contest, it's a mark of how good both were – along with the shortcomings of the first drops – that he gets into this side bumped up to No.3. It was a big series for Root in terms of his legacy, he moved up to No.2 on Test cricket's all-time run-scorers list, with the only stats question of his career whether he will make it to No.1 before hanging up his boots.
Shubman Gill
5 matches, 754 runs at 75.40, 4 hundred, HS: 269
Only three players this century have scored more runs than India's new captain in a bilateral Test series, and only one in the history of the game has scored more centuries. There's no debate about Gill's inclusion in this XI, he's the first name on the team-sheet.
Rishabh Pant (wk)
4 matches, 479 runs at 68.42, 2 hundred, HS: 134
Not even a broken foot could stop Rishabh Pant from putting on a show. Having edged the ball onto his boot on day one at Old Trafford, he came out the next day and whacked a couple of boundaries to reach his half-century. With dual centuries in Leeds, an important second innings half-century in Birmingham, and a first-innings 74 at Lord's, Pant's prolificness means he comes into this XI over Jamie Smith, who himself averaged 62 in the series.
Ravindra Jadeja
5 matches, 516 runs at 68.42, 1 hundred, HS: 107*
7 wickets at 72.42, SR: 121.8, BBI: 4-143
While Jadeja's impact with the ball fell short, he was arguably India's most crucial player with the bat. While his century in Manchester will be the abiding memory of him from this series, from the second Test onwards he only failed to pass 50 twice in eight innings, frustrating England as they struggled to breakthrough to the tail. That frustration reached its peak at Old Trafford, but continued to The Oval, where he marshalled India from 229-5 when he came in, to 357-8 when he was out, setting up a much more achievable fourth-innings defence.
Ben Stokes
4 matches, 304 runs at 43.42, 1 hundred, HS: 141
17 wickets at 25.23, SR: 49.41, BBI: 5-72
Having marshalled the troops while his own performances stagnated for the last two years, Ben Stokes was back up to near his best this summer. He was England's best bowler for the majority of the series, and bowled himself into the ground trying to force a win in Manchester. Stokes has never bowled more overs in a series than in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, and while that's a sign of confidence in his body's ability to sustain that kind of workload, it did result in him missing the final match at The Oval. Equally important was the century he scored in Manchester, going a way to dispel calls for Jamie Smith to be promoted above him. With Stokes back in miracle performing mode, arguably the most important piece of England's Ashes puzzle is slotting into place – if he can nurse his body to the finishing line.
Washington Sundar
4 matches, 284 runs at 47.33, 1 hundred, HS: 101*
7 wickets at 38.57, SR: 63.5, BBI: 4-43
After India's tail were blown away twice at Headingley, Sundar was brought in to bolster the lower order in Birmingham, and immediately made an impact scoring 42 in their first innings from No.8. Having scored his maiden Test hundred in one of the all-time rearguard defences in Manchester, he was on the front foot at The Oval, dismantling Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson on the evening of day three, peppering the boundary rope to push India's lead past 350. With the ball, he went toe-to-toe with Jadeja as India's leading spinner, taking four-for at Lord's to rattle-through England for less than 200. This series saw the arrival of Sundar as heir to India's spinning all-rounders who have blocked out positions in their XI for so long.
Jofra Archer
2 matches, 9 wickets at 28.66, SR: 59.00, BBI: 3-55
Archer's return at Lord's, his wicket in the first over, and the speed gun roaring up towards the mid 90s was almost too poetic. The ball he bowled to Rishabh Pant to make a crucial breakthrough on a nerve-jangling day five capped off the closure to his four-year long absence. Perhaps more important was that he then played the next match in Manchester without breaking down. Nine wickets across his two appearances in the series mark both a painful chapter of his career closed, and a fresh page turned.
Jasprit Bumrah
3 matches, 14 wickets at 26.00, SR: 51.28, BBI: 5-74
It took Bumrah just six balls to showcase why so much weight was placed on the three Tests he would feature in to secure India victory. He honed in on Zak Crawley's outside edge in his opening over at Headingley, with jagging movement to draw first blood. Perhaps his impact wasn't quite as drastic as India would have hoped, particularly at Old Trafford in his last outing, but for large swathes of the series he was a cut above the rest of the bowlers on both teams.
Mohammed Siraj
5 matches, 23 wickets at 32.43, SR: 48.3, BBI: 6-70
It's a quirk of Siraj's record that he's at his best when Bumrah isn't in the side, but it's a quirk that serves India well when their main man has to manage his workload in such a blockbuster series. He surged to the top of the wicket-taker standings in the final Test, bowling a snorter of an over to Duckett on the final morning before producing an nip-backer to strike Ollie Pope plumb in front and yorking Gus Atkinson to close off a thrilling Test match and series.
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