IND vs ENG 2024 - An Opportunity Lost for England?
Ben Stokes has not been able to fire in the middle-order in this series (Source: AP Photos)
After losing the fourth Test match, the English captain Ben Stokes applauded his side's efforts. Stokes said England fought better than the scorecard suggested — a defeat by five wickets.
England indeed have been quite competitive throughout the series, pushing India on the backfoot on multiple occasions and challenging Rohit Sharma’s men. However, the visitors would also be unhappy to lose the series already, with one match yet to go.
Content with competitiveness or regret of not winning?
England’s head coach Brendon McCullum, after the Ranchi Test, concluded that his side failed to seize the “big moments”. He said,
“We've had our moments throughout this series. India, at the times where the game has been sitting on the line, have really stepped up and performed. We weren't quite good enough when it mattered. Or India were better, to be honest, than us being not quite good enough.”
McCullum hit the nail on its head. England failed to outplay India when they could’ve run away with the match.
| 2nd Test, England’s 1st innings | England collapsed from 114/1 to 136/4 |
|---|---|
| 3rd Test, India’s 1st innings | India scored 445 from 33/3 |
| 3rd Test, England’s 1st innings | England all-out for 319 from 181/1 |
| 4th Test, India’s 1st innings | India scored 307 from 117/7 |
The captain and head coach duo has appreciated Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir. Both spinners debuted in this series and have very little first-class experience, particularly the 20-year-old Bashir. But, the finger spin-duo didn’t fail to leave a mark. James Anderson has been pretty good as well. As far as the bowling department is concerned, England really missed a solid fourth bowler.
Joe Root has been guilty of triggering batting collapses with his irresponsible shot making (Source: AP Photos)
English batters, barring the opening pair of Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, have been quite disappointing. Besides his 196-run mammoth innings, Ollie Pope has touched the 30-run mark just once. Joe Root’s century in the previous match has been only his 30+ runs knock.
Ben Stokes has scored a solitary half-century and a couple of 40s. Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes have three 30+ scores to their name, with 38 and 47 being their highest scores respectively. That’s just not enough in Test cricket, especially in a series with four innings totals of 400+, and two team innings within the 350-399 range.
It’s a classic case of what could have been with slightly better batting returns.
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India continue their home dominance
India are one of the most dominant Test sides on their own soil. Since April 1987, they have faced defeats in only three home Test series, with the last one coming in 2012. This supremacy has grown with time: India have lost just four home Tests since 2013. Beating India in their own backyard is an extremely demanding challenge — winning a few sessions isn't enough, you need to be consistently good. And, this series has perfectly demonstrated it.
Apart from the absence of Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami for the entirety of the series, KL Rahul played just the first Test, Ravindra Jadeja missed the second Test while Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj were rested for the second and the fourth Test respectively. India have handed out four debuts in this series so far; the second-most for them in a Test series in this century.
Rohit Sharma, India’s best batter in this squad, has scored just two 50+ scores including a century. R. Ashwin is having a middling series by his standards. Still, India have emerged victorious. Sure, they have benefited from the individual brilliance of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jasprit Bumrah, but the other players have also contributed well on many crucial occasions.
This also speaks about the quality India boast of, they have a large talent pool. Their players have played a lot of cricket in these conditions. The Indian team should be proud of their efforts in overcoming all the challenges they have faced in this series.
 "Tushar Jain")
