Former captain Michael Atherton said that it would be challenging to be overly "critical" of the England team’s Test series loss to India recently. England trails 1-3 in the five-Test series with the last match to be played in Dharamshala from March 7 onwards.
England had periods of strength during the Test, with important performances from Joe Root, as well as young spinners Shoaib Bashir and Tom Hartley.
In the difficult chase of 192 runs, India's Shubman Gill and Dhruv Jurel's undefeated 72-run partnership eventually got them over the line.
Atherton further remarked that the series remained competitive right from the opening match, but in the end, India proved to be superior in their home conditions.
"I don't feel too strongly about being too critical of England. It's a difficult place to come and win, obviously, with nobody able to do so since 2012/13,” Atherton said on the Sky Sports Cricket podcast.
"When we were talking about the series before a ball was sent down then I don't think we expected England to win here, given the relative strength of the spin attack. I feel that it has been a competitive series. I feel like India know they've been in the tussle, but in the end, they were just too good in home conditions," Atherton added.
England had started the Test series with a 28-run win in Hyderabad, but since then, India has dominated the series which includes a 434-run win in the Rajkot Test. In the fourth Test in Ranchi, England shunned Bazball, particularly Joe Root, who made his 31st Test century and put England in a strong position.
However, in the second innings, R Ashwin with five wickets, and Kuldeep Yadav with 4/22 restricted England to 145 runs.
"I thought this was a particularly good effort from India to win the Test. They lost the toss, they were behind in the first innings, but they pulled it around. It could conceivably be 4-0 to India because they will feel they should have won that first game in Hyderabad and probably ought to have done," Atherton said.
"You could also say it could be 2-2 as well because England did win in Hyderabad and threw away a strong position here. Even at Rajkot, I know they ended up losing by a massive margin, but that day three was a similar day three here. I felt that the cricket has been competitive and India know they've been in a tussle," Atherton added.
England and India will clash in the final Test of the series on March 7 at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamshala.
(ANI inputs)
