England’s dismissal show in the India tour took a new low on Monday (Feb 26) after Ben Stokes and Co lost the Ranchi Test by five wickets.
The defeat which condemned England to their first Test series loss in almost two years had a string of poor performances with both bat and ball as hosts India pocketed the series 3-1 with still a match to go. After the defeat, former captain Michael Atherton did not hold back and criticised the performance of Ollie Robinson in particular and claimed that he was not fit to be in the Playing XI for the Ranchi Test.
Atherton blasts Robinson
“Ollie Robinson, I was really disappointed with him in this game. I felt that he bowled, his pace was pedestrian, and he was quite down on pace. Obviously scored that half-century, but dropped a catch. He was not called upon by Stokes on the last day and he looked like a player who had been out of cricket for seven months.
He scored 58 runs in the first innings and went without troubling the scorers in the second innings. Robinson ended with figures of 54/0 in his 13 overs in the first innings and was unused in the second innings.
It will be interesting to see how England approach the final Test match of the five-match series, considering there will be points up for grabs in the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. England are currently eighth in the standings and have won only two matches in the 2023-25 cycle.