England inflicted a second consecutive three-day defeat on India to seal the Test series 3-1 at the Oval.

The home seamers hunted as a pack, as they had three days ago, to hustle hapless India out for only 94 in 29.2 overs overs and win by an innings and 244 runs — their second-highest margin of victory against them.

After Joe Root (149 not out) completed his fifth Test century, captain Alastair Cook unleashed James Anderson, Stuart Broad et al — with a 338-run lead on the board.

But it was Chris Jordan who cashed in a career-best four for 18 as India’s embarrassingly swift descent was all over by tea.

Anderson, who was named man of the series, moved ever closer to Ian Botham’s all-time England record Test wicket-taking tally of 383 with figures of two for 16 taking him to 380 and afterwards was keen to spread the praise to Stuart Broad, Jordan and Chris Woakes.

“It’s right up there, it’s the best I’ve probably bowled,” he said of his own form.

“The way the whole group has bowled has been outstanding since Southampton.

“We’ve got on top of their batsmen and not let them get back in any of the games we’ve played. We’ve created pressure non-stop.

“That’s a credit to all — not just the four seamers but Moeen Ali as well.”

On what had changed since the loss at Lord’s, he added: “We decided to concentrate not on plans for particular batsmen but on what we do well — hitting the top as much as we could, challenge their outside edge, challenging their forward defence. And I think as we’ve gone on through last three Tests we’ve improved on that in each game.”

Man of the match Root hailed the way the team had bounced back after the Lord’s defeat.

“It was a tough time,” he said.

“To bounce back like we did has shown a lot of character. A lot of guys have had to dig deep. It’s really pleasing to see the way we’ve finished it off.”