England skipper Ben Stokes said that he couldn’t be more proud of his team despite losing the fourth Test and the series in Ranchi against India on Monday (Feb 26).
India achieved the 192-run target with five wickets in hand shortly before tea on day 4 and now lead the five-match series 3-1. England did manage to give India a bit of scare with three wickets in the first session and two post lunch but the effort fell short in the end.
“It was a great Test match, the scoreboard doesn’t give enough credit to the game as a whole, the ebbs and flows. So much credit to our spinners, being exposed to a situation like that at the start of their careers. I couldn’t be more proud,” said Stokes to the broadcaster after the match.
The English skipper noted that England were good in patches during the course of Test but acknowledged that it was hard to bat against Indian spin trio on day 3 (Feb 25).
“We’ve been good in periods, yesterday with the bat was incredibly hard against Ashwin, Jadeja and Kuldeep. We didn’t think the game would get any better, and we’ve seen that today,” said Stokes.
Speaking about Joe Root, who scored a magnificent 122 not out in the first innings in an approach juxtaposed of England’s Bazball, Stokes said: “Root, incredible knock, the criticism wasn’t very fair, class is permanent.”
Apart from Root, Shoaib Bashir, playing his second Test, also starred for England, albeit with ball.