4 moments England will rue missing out on after their series loss to Team India
It was as familiar as it could get for England even as they came in with a refined approach to play a Test series in India after three years. The Englishmen, captained by Ben Stokes, won the opening Test but plummeted to lose the series as their performances consistently kept dipping with every match, only for the scoreline to read 1-4 in the end.
But unlike the 2021 series, England had their moments when they could’ve taken the bull by the horns. Instead, batting collapses became the hallmark and the home side kept pouncing on every missed opportunity by England. Despite India missing a handful of key players in the series, they engineered Stokes’ first series loss as captain.
Here we take a look at four moments that England will rue in their series loss to India:
4) Jasprit Bumrah’s red-hot spell proves too much for England
In reply to what seemed a modest 396 in Visakhapatnam, England openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley notched up yet another fifty-run partnership, setting the foundation. Jasprit Bumrah sent down an expensive spell, but Kuldeep Yadav separated the openers by dismissing Duckett. Axar Patel striking to remove Zak Crawley and Joe Root’s arrival, prompted Rohit Sharma to re-introduce Bumrah. England were strongly placed at 118-2.
It wouldn’t be a travesty to call it a spell from hell on a relatively docile surface as the right-arm speedster got into his work in only his second over since coming back, getting Joe Root for the eighth time in Tests.
His very next over became the dismissal of the series as Ollie Pope had no answers to the masterful yorker. On the other side of lunch, Jonny Bairstow became his third victim, followed by Stokes showcasing another bout of ‘What could I have done?’ The remaining two wickets gave Bumrah a six-fer and India a 143-run lead.
Although India’s second-innings batting performance wasn’t perfect, they had enough runs on the board to level the series comfortably.
3) Joe Root drops a potential game-changing catch in Rajkot
Only a few wickets are as precious as Rohit Sharma’s and the veteran opener proved why once more in Rajkot. After losing the toss in the third Test and India making the first use of the pitch, the opening hour could not have gone better for the tourists.
They left the skipper and the other most experienced player, Ravindra Jadeja, to do the repair job after stumbling to 33-3. However, it could have been 47-4 had Joe Root pounced on the half chance offered by Rohit at slip in the 13th over.
An under-pressure Indian captain was at 29 off 39 deliveries at that stage and went on to make 131 after stitching up a partnership of 204 with Jadeja. The partnership set the foundation for a steep total of 445 as Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah also frustrated England into thinking what could have been.
2) Joe Root plays the most debatable shot of the series
A particular shot will be discussed for years to come, given the batter under focus plays in the most uncharacteristic manner possible. Joe Root instantly entered the ‘Bazball’ bandwagon and the reverse ramp, a trusted lieutenant in his armoury, which became one of the hallmarks of their aggressive approach. However, Rajkot saw the shot from the Yorkshire batter become England’s and his pantomime villain.
Responding to India’s 445, Ben Duckett set the wheels in motion as he thumped an 89-ball century to take England to 202-2 by Stumps on Day 2. Only 15 minutes into Day 3, Root went for the reverse ramp, but only for Yashasvi Jaiswal to catch the ball in the slip cordon. The wheels well and truly fell for the tourists when Duckett tamely toe-ended one to cover for 153 and they were eventually bowled out for 319.
Yashasvi Jaiswal came out to bat the tourists out of the contest and did so with aplomb, registering the second double-century of the series. He had Sarfaraz Khan for company to set Ben Stokes’ men an improbable 557 to win. With even England’s ‘Bazball’ approach failing to get anywhere near it, India registered a record-shattering victory.
1) Ben Stokes rolls over his bowling arm a bit too late
A 434-run drubbing in Rajkot led Ben Stokes to declare there is a possibility of him bowling in the following Test in Ranchi. However, the all-rounder did not turn up with the ball. Given the seed he bowled to Rohit Sharma in Dharamsala for a wicket off the first delivery he bowled since June 2023, it could have been the difference between a lead of 46 or 100 runs.
Similarly, Stokes could have also bowled in the fourth innings of the Test when England set an underwhelming 192 to win. With Shoaib Bashir breaking the game open by reducing the hosts to 120-5 at one stage, Dhruv Jurel joined Shubman Gill and took their side home on a tricky deck. A short burst in between from Stokes could've set up the victory for England.