Southampton, England - Spinner Moeen Ali claimed six wickets to inspire England to a crushing 266-run win over India on Thursday that levelled the series at 1-1 with two matches to play.
Spinner Moeen took six for 67, the first five-wicket haul of his Test career, and India crumbled to 178 all out in their second innings on the final morning of the match.
England took the six wickets they needed to secure a first Test win since they beat Australia at Durham last August, ending a run of 10 matches without victory.
Moeen dismissed Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami in the space of 12 balls, before he aptly took the final scalp of Pankaj Singh.
Earlier in the morning, James Anderson, who on Friday faces a hearing into his part in an altercation with Jadeja at Trent Bridge, had got England off to the perfect start by dismissing Rohit Sharma and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
India batsman Ajinkya Rahane played with composure to reach his second half-century of the match, but his unbeaten 52 was in vain as England maintained the dominance they had shown over the first four days.
Man-of-the-match Anderson drew Sharma into a faint edge through to wicketkeeper Jos Buttler before dismissing Dhoni in similar fashion with a ball that nipped away from the right-hander.
England captain Alastair Cook made a crucial bowling change, by introducing Moeen who bowled Jadeja with a full-length delivery before inducing Kumar, who has three half-centuries in the series, to edge on to his pad and the ball looped up to Anderson at gully.
Moeen continued to bamboozle the Indian batsmen and he bowled Shami and Singh to wrap up a deserved victory for the hosts.
The fourth Test begins at Old Trafford, Manchester on August 7. – Reuters