NEWS
Follow UsEngland had a batting meltdown on Day 4 of the Rajkot Test that saw them crash for 122 while chasing 557 in the fourth innings. India had declared an hour before the Tea break, leaving themselves 40 overs to bowl before stumps. That proved to be enough as England were nowhere in the chase and were 50/7 at one point.
Given their collapse in the first innings, England lost their last 18 wickets in the Test for only 217 runs. It all started on Day 3 when Joe Root’s attempt to reverse ramp Jasprit Bumrah in the morning session saw him hand a catching practice to the slip cordon. England opened the gate for the hosts who then pressed on the advantage and the Three Lions were never in the game post Root’s dismissal.
While England’s aggressive style of play received much applause after their win in Hyderabad, it has come under the scanner again after the humbling defeat in Rajkot. Asked if England will temper with their approach, Ben Stokes, England skipper, answered in negative.
"No, not at all," Stokes answered. "Our batting line-up is full of international class players. We give them the freedom to play what's in front of them. You can see the difference in the two teams' approaches playing out in India. In the last two games, India have put runs on the board, the way they want to operate. We have been able to do it at times, but have not been able to sustain it for as long as we've wanted to.
"In terms of tempering it... Joe made a great point to me when we'd lost those wickets and they were going. It felt dry and we weren't trying to put any pressure back on them. It's about the situation in the game. The ball starts spinning and bouncing again, there's loads of people around the bat. That's an opportunity to get the scoreboard moving again.
"Again, for Joe to say that, did we go into our shells a little bit because of the situation? That's not what we do. I don't think we need to temper anything, we need to look at our execution this week. Was it how we executed the shots that led to our downfall and a lot of us would say yes, I didn't execute well enough,” Stokes said about getting the execution right instead of changing the approach.
The skipper defended Root for his ramp shot but also admitted it changed the course of the match. "Yeah, it definitely was a turning point,” Stokes said. However, he also trusts Root, stating the former captain knows what he is doing.
"Joe Root scored nearly 12,000 runs. I think we can leave the decision-making and 'why' with Joe. I can understand why there would be frustration around that because of how good a player Joe is," Stokes said.
"Jasprit Bumrah has got him out a couple of times this tour early on. And I thought Joe was looking really, really good at the crease, and he sensed that as a time to put something different back onto Jasprit and make him maybe think about something. Because what that shot does for Joe is it makes fields change, makes bowlers' mindset change towards him. He got out to it, and it's not a shot you necessarily see Test match players playing. But look, who am I to question a guy with 30 Test match hundreds, nearly 12,000 Test match runs. I think he knows what he's doing."
Ravi Shastri, in the commentary box, pointed out that Root has bowled more overs in this series than the number of runs he has scored. After the third Test, Root now has 77 runs in the series and has bowled 107 overs. The low returns from the Yorkshireman is a big reason England have faltered in two successive Tests. Is the bowling affecting Root’s batting form?
Stokes again supported Root saying, "I think that would be a cop out thing to say. You ask Joe that and he would say 'absolutely not’. He loves having the responsibility of bowling and influencing the game.”
“He's influenced so many Test matches with the bat and I always thought he under-bowled himself as a captain, I think he's a lot better than what he gives himself credit for. But by no means do I think him bowling more overs is the reason as to why he's not getting the runs he would like to. You would never hear him say that either,” Stokes added.
With two defeats in a row, England trail 1-2 in the series with two Tests to go. However, as Stokes said after being 0-2 down in the Ashes last year before, England are still positive about winning the series for which, they need to win two on a bounce now.
"I spoke before I came out here (the press conference) and said weeks like this are hard. Losing games for England isn't where you want to be but games are - personally, I think - won or lost in the head. I just made sure that all the emotion, all the disappointment there would be in that dressing room now, make sure it stays here. We've got two games left and all I'm thinking about is winning this series 3-2,” Stokes reckoned.
