England will take on India in the fifth and final Test on March 7 and would try to end the series on a winning note.
New Delhi: The England cricket team and Brendon McCullum’s renowned ‘Bazball’ approach have been under a lot of fire following the dismal performance in the ongoing Test series against India. Ben Stokes-led side won the opening Test but then lost three Tests in a row and lost the series 1-3 with one more Test still remaining.
However, England’s red-ball coach is firm with his stand and beleives the Three-Lions have improved a lot in the last 18 months and will be doing a much better job with their current appraoch in the upcoming 18 months.
‘There’s times in games where we haven’t quite screwed down our method just yet. We’ve lost here, didn’t win the Ashes (2-2), but we’re a better team than 18 months ago, and we’ve got an opportunity in the next 18 months to do some special shit,” McCullum said to the UK media.
With India taking an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series, it is also England’s first series loss under the captain-coach duo of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum
India’s win in the fourth Test was fashioned by knocks of 90 and 39 not out from Dhruv Jurel while sharing a crucial 76-run stand for the eighth wicket with Kuldeep Yadav in the first innings and a decisive 72-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Shubman Gill, who made 55 not out.
With the ball, debutant fast-bowler Akash Deep took three wickets on Day One, followed by Ravichandran Ashwin and Kuldeep taking 5-51 and 4-22 respectively in the second innings, to give India their 17th consecutive Test series win at home.
Due to a combination of injuries, rest and personal reasons, India missed Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, K.L. Rahul, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah in the series. But the hosts still came out on the winning side to get their 17th consecutive Test series win.
But the visitors’ can take a lot of heart from off-spinner Shoaib Bashir’s match haul of eight wickets, including five in the first innings, which wasn’t enough to stop India from winning the series.