There was a time when England captains would wear a haunted look after a series defeat but as Ben Stokes reflected on his first in the job, sealed by India chasing down 192 on a fourth day in Ranchi that threw up a dash of tension, he was pretty zen, all told.
This was not in preparation for the now dead-rubber fifth Test in Dharamsala, home of the Dalai Lama, but more a reflection of his outlook on life these days; how he has learned to treat those two impostors, triumph and disaster, just the same. Stokes wants to win, no question, but to be chewed up by defeat would be to lose perspective.
It had been a solid effort on the day. England’s fielding was on point, be it old man Jimmy Anderson setting the tone by athletically pouching Yashasvi Jaiswal at backward point, or Ollie Pope’s cat-like reflexes at short leg. Their spinners induced a wobble, too, Shoaib Bashir’s two wickets in two balls reducing India to 120 for five, taking him to eight in the match and 12 in his Test career – two more than he has for Somerset.
While 3-1 down after two of India’s next gen stars in Dhruv Jurel and Shubman Gill got their side over the line – a gimlet-eyed unbroken stand of 72 that broke a tense two-hour period without a boundary – England have pushed the hosts harder than many previous visitors; harder, certainly, than their own nosedive to a 3-1 defeat in 2021.
Rohit Sharma, whose side have now won their past 15 Test series at home, said he expected this to be the case, even if his main post-match reflections centred on pride at Gill and Jurel. The latter has a bit of chase-master Virat Kohli about him, a wonderfully correct technique first demonstrated in a match-turning 90 in India’s first innings and then when his unbeaten 39, alongside Gill’s largely watchful 52, broke the shackles.
Even if pride can be salvaged in the foothills of the Himalayas next week, England will have a few regrets about the fourth Test and the series as a whole. Bashir and Tom Hartley have outstripped expectations, the latter now the leading wicket-taker in the series with 19 after Sharma’s commanding 55 ended with a stumping by Ben Foakes that turned out to be an edge. But two opportunities went begging in this one.
Both came on the pivotal third day, first when Jurel offered a chance to Ollie Robinson at midwicket on 59, only for the ball to burst through his hands. Having started his first Test in seven months brightly, 58 with the bat supporting Joe Root’s fine unbeaten century, he then faded, pace down in the mid-70s with yet more talk of back soreness. Stokes ignored him completely in the fourth innings but claimed this was tactical. Anderson ended the day off the field with a sore quad but Robinson, Stokes said, was fit to bowl.
Add the runs Jurel scored after the drop, plus maybe some squandered by Bashir and Anderson falling to reckless shots when they might have supported Root, and England could have had a 100-run lead come their second dig. Instead, 46 ahead, they crumbled on a curious surface that lurched from dozy to devilish and back again, bowled out for 145 and losing their last seven wickets for 35.
After Rajkot, where 207 for two became a match-losing 319 all out, or last summer’s hook-heavy collapse at Lord’s when Australia were similarly a man down, this has seen the question of ruthlessness emerge; whether a team that likes to keep things casual also lets things slip against the better sides. After all, while results took a significant upturn in 2022, that was also the year of their last series win (in Pakistan).
“Ruthlessness?’ replied Stokes, when asked about this. “What is it? How does it show itself? Everyone goes into the game with their best intentions. When it doesn’t pay off people say we’re not ruthless but when they do, they say we are. I don’t really understand. We try to do what we think is the best way to win the game. It can be a throwaway comment when people say we’re not ruthless enough.”
It was a fair rebuttal and, in the case of the collapse in this Test, few teams, if any, would have fared better. Pope was skittish, Stokes found himself penned in on the back foot and Jonny Bairstow’s shot after tea was tame at such a critical moment. But Ravichandran Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav, nine wickets between them, were lethal in targeting the cracks on offer.
“Nothing is impossible,” Stokes said regarding the straitjacket they imposed. “But it was nigh on impossible to operate how we wanted to.”
Stokes deserves credit for coaxing as much as he has from two comparative novices in Bashir and Hartley and the pair could be proud of their efforts on Monday, the former inducing some panic after lunch when Ravindra Jadeja slotted a full toss to midwicket and Sarfaraz Khan fiddled a bat-pad to Pope for a golden duck. Might Robinson, wicket-to-wicket with the keeper stood up, have been a question worth asking? Stokes felt not.
In the end, India held their nerve, Gill adding a flourish by launching two mighty sixes and Jurel fittingly hitting the winning runs off Hartley. Ultimately, the better team triumphed.
