"Ruthlessness? What is it? How does it show itself?" - Ben Stokes irked by claims of England lacking ruthlessness in series defeat to India
England skipper Ben Stokes has rubbished claims of his side lacking ruthlessness in the Test series defeat in India.
After an impressive win in the series opener, the visitors have suffered a hattrick of defeats in the subsequent three outings to be 1-3 behind with a game remaining. The series loss was England's first in the Ben Stokes-Brendon McCullum era that started in the middle of 2022.
The recent loss in Ranchi was particularly disappointing for England, considering their dominant position with a first-innings lead of 176 runs with India seven wickets down.
When asked during the press conference if England lacked ruthlessness, a visibly irked Stokes said:
"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. 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?"
India recovered from 177/7 to post 307, and then England collapsed in their second innings from 110/3 to 145 all-out to cost themselves dearly for a series-leveling win.
Before the India series, England had won 13 of their previous 18 Tests since Stokes became the permanent Test captain.
"This is the first we have lost, but we will be involved in plenty more series going forward" - Ben Stokes
Despite the disappointment of a first Test series defeat under his partnership with head coach Brendon McCullum, Ben Stokes remained level-headed by looking ahead to the plenty of upcoming series the side will be involved in.
During the Bazball era under the duo, England registered impressive home series wins against New Zealand and South Africa, followed by a 3-0 whitewash of Pakistan in Pakistan.
"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. 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," said Stokes.
The latest defeat has England in a lowly seventh on the World Test Championship (WTC) table with a sub-20 percentage point.
Therefore, the final Test against India in Dharamsala, starting March 7, becomes paramount for the side to climb up the WTC table despite the series outcome already decided.