England conceded an unassailable 3-1 lead to India after losing the Ranchi Test.
With this outcome, the Three Lions conceded an unassailable 3-1 lead to India in the five-match series. It was their first Test series loss in the ‘Bazball’ era.
After the Ranchi Test, the visiting skipper Ben Stokes dismissed claims that his team lacked ruthlessness in their approach against India.
In the wake of the series loss, England’s ‘Bazball’ approach is facing flak for being too inflexible and lacking in depth.
Asked if England lacked ruthlessness against India, Stokes replied: "Ruthlessness? 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, when it does, they say we are," he added in the post-match presser.
Stokes further explained that interpretation of ruthlessness can be misinterpreted. "I don't really understand it. That's from my point of view; we try to do what we think is the best way to win a game. It can be a throwaway comment when people say we're not ruthless enough. What does it mean?" he questioned.
After adopting the ‘Bazball’ approach in 2022, England have registered 14 victories in 23 Tests, which includes wins over New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan and Australia.
"Obviously we want to win every game we play, and win every series. This is the first we have lost, but we will be involved in plenty more series going forward," Stokes said.
"It's always disappointing being on the losing team. Looking back at when we had our chance to bat yesterday, cricket is always skill against skill."
The England captain credited the Indian spin troika of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav to turn it around by picking up all the 10 wickets among them in the tourists’ second innings.
"Ashwin, Jadeja and Kuldeep and the conditions we found ourselves in against them was very, very challenging," Stokes said.
"When India have a sniff in conditions like that, any team is going to find it hard to not only keep the scoreboard ticking but rotate the strike.
"You've got to give them a lot of credit for the way in which they bowled in very favourable conditions. On this occasion, their skill was better than ours yesterday."
Despite expressing early reservations, Stokes made it clear that he has no complaints about the Ranchi pitch. In fact, he admitted that all the four Test pitches so far were "really good".
"I had no idea what it was going to do and I was very surprised how it kept together. The temperatures of the day made it behave differently but I think all four have been really good Test match pitches," Stokes said.
"We've seen on many occasions when it's hard to get them out, but there will be periods when spin is a threat. They're the conditions you expect in India. No complaints, just very good wickets and four games, four results, so can't complain," he further remarked.
Both the teams will now face in the dead-rubber fifth Test match in Dharamsala from March 7.
(With PTI Inputs)