England under the charismatic leadership of captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum landed in India for the first series in the New Year of 2024 on Indian soil. A dream which England saw under the leadership of Ben Stokes and the management when the test series started on 25th January 2024 was to win a series in India which was their final frontier since 2012, the last time they won the series in the subcontinent and buoyed by the recent success in Pakistan, the English team was confident of it under similar conditions.
England under Ben Stokes started the series with a bang eclipsing Rohit Sharma and his team in the first test at Hyderabad by 28 runs thanks to the magnificent innings by middle order batter Ollie Pope(196) and a 7 wicket haul by debutant spinner Tom Hartley to go 1-0 up in a 5 match series and giving serious concerns to India who without their main players started wondering how to stage a comeback.
However India bounced back to winning ways against England, sealing a 106-run victory on Day 4 of the second Test match in Vizag in the second test match .
The win saw the hosts level the series 1-1 as the visitors wrapped up for 292 in their 399-run chase. With England continuing with their Bazball approach towards the target, it was evident that it was a matter of time that English batters would hand the Indian’s their wickets. With most were taken by disciplined bowling by India some wickets like skipper Ben Stokes and Joe Root’s became the talking and meme material.
With the test series tied at 1-1 and a 10 day gap between the third test at Rajkot, England under Ben Stokes decided to go to Abu Dhabi for some holidays and having a hand on the golf course but was confident that their team with a Bazball technique approach could stage a lead at Rajkot.
England’s recent success under talismanic captainship of Ben Stokes
Ben Stokes aggressive approach to captaincy may have failed to claim victory in a hard-fought second Test but the five-match series against India is still wide open at 1-1. Much of England’s success has been attributed to Bazball – the desire to score quickly and tactically rattle the opposition – but this is a misnomer. What Ben Stokes has really done is set out to achieve victory from ball one by playing aggressive cricket in all aspects of the game.
Ben Stokes has been extremely smart to adopt such an approach and his aggressive tactics have brought England great success in the win column. It’s an approach that England were extremely slow to adopt but Stokes has shown himself to be a strong-minded and smart leader.
The England team has great belief in Ben Stokes and it shows both on and off the field. The team takes wickets because they are continually looking for them, and this challenge is accepted by the bowlers. One of the great benefits of this strategy is that it enthuses the best players, and they are the ones most likely to affect the final result.
The team also believe that Ben Stokes’ aggression will help them claim the odd unexpected success. This belief is what generally leads to a team producing something extra that leads to a vital wicket. Stokes’ brilliance in the field helped him produce a run-out at a crucial time in Hyderabad – and it also helped increase team belief.
Ben Stokes’ attitude has helped the younger players believe in themselves, and this is showing in their bowling performances. The success of young players Tom Hartley, Rehan Ahmed and Shoaib Bashir is no fluke; it epitomizes the confidence instilled by Stokes’ approach. Hartley’s success with both bat and ball should make the limited Jack Leach redundant in the Test side. One of England’s weaknesses has been their spin department, but Stokes’ positive approach suddenly means that slow bowling has a number of candidates.
The success of Ollie Pope at No. 3 and the ascent of Harry Brook as a vital middle-order player also means the batting is potentially much stronger.
These marked improvements in talent should ensure that in future England pick their strongest available team for the prevailing conditions. England have erred in the past by not picking their best wicketkeeper and by often shunning the value of extra pace. Injuries to fast bowlers aside, this should be a thing of the past.
It will help England enormously if Stokes is once again able to function as an allrounder, as his bowling is a distinct weapon. It would also help if he fielded in the slips, especially to the spinners, as he is one of the best in that position. The other area where England could improve is in their use of the bouncer. It’s often an overused ploy, and it must be remembered that the biggest advantage of the bouncer is the element of surprise.
One personal area Stokes could look at is his own batting. If he were more proactive at the start of each innings, it would improve his play. Stokes is a very good batter but he’s at his best when he’s looking to score. With all such qualities from skipper Ben Stokes certainly raises hopes for England’s comeback in the remainder of the test series versus India.
However all this talk of Bazball succession in India came to a stuttering halt at Rajkot as India powered by dazzling double century by Yashaswi Jaiswal and an effective all round show by local boy Ravindra Jadeja which included a century and a fifer inflicted a 434 runs defeat on Ben Stokes led Bazball inspired English side .This defeat the second highest in terms of runs for England and a 2-1 lead for India has now pushed Ben Stokes to the back mentally who will now seriously think about the aspect of his bowling too in the further 2 test matches.
Nothing changed in Ranchi as the Ben Stokes led team who promised to comeback after the 434 run drubbing at Rajkot in the 3rd test surrendered to the prowess of young Indian wicket keeper batter Dhruv Jurel to lose the 4th test match and the series 3-1 to India thus keeping their dream to conquer Indian fortress since 2012 incomplete.
However ahead of the 5th and final test match at the picturesque Dharamshala, the English skipper is confident of his team giving a final goodbye to Indian shores on the winning note and is vocal about it.
Ben Stokes insists English players have evolved despite a series loss to India.
England are set to play their final Test match of the series in tour of India. Set to start on March 7, England would be hoping to make the best of conditions offered at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, in Dharamsala. With the weather conditions set to be more suitable for England than India, captain Ben Stokes as said that they will be looking to end their series on a high.
The tour of India is the first series that England has lost under the captaincy of Ben Stokes Despite starting well in the first Test at Hyderabad, the English team failed to capitalize in the series and lost back to back Test matches against the below-strength Indian team.
Stokes’ team was criticized for their rash cricket in the third Test match at Rajkot, but changing their methods did not change their results in Ranchi as well. Asked if the team had gone backwards in terms of results in India, Stokes argued that results do not show the progress that England have made in the series. In the pre match press conference, Stokes said that the tour has seen a handful of players progress . As quoted by BBC Sport he said :
“Just because the scoreline at the moment reads 3-1, it doesn’t mean that we’ve gone backwards. There are lots of these things that we have massively progressed on as a team whilst out on this tour. The individuals and the team have massively evolved on this tour,”
The way in which everyone committed to becoming a better version of themselves from when we last played was quite obvious; everyone’s fitter and it was just a really different feel around how we operated from the summer before,”
The likes of Shoaib Bashir and Tom Hartley had done justice to their selections. Hartley took seven wickets in the fourth innings at Hyderabad. Shoaib Bashir took a fifer in the first innings at Ranchi and finished the match with eight wickets in total.
Ben Stokes has a special praise for Jonny Bairstow ahead of his 100th Test
Jonny Bairstow is set to play his 100th Test in Dharamshala. The England batter has been going through a lean patch in this series, but is likely to keep his place. The 34-year-old has only scored 170 runs at an average of 21.25, without even scoring a half-century across eight innings.
Reflecting on Jonny Bairstow ahead of his 100th Test for England , Stokes stated that the wicket keeper batter has called his entire family to watch the match. He stated as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo:
“This is probably going to be more of an emotional thing for Jonny than it ever was for me. I don’t need to go into details as to why about the whole family. He’s got his mam, sister, partner, little baby boy and some friends here. He deserves everything that gets spoken about him in the build-up to the game and throughout the week as well,”
Jonny Bairstow will be the 17th English player to represent England in 100 test matches and would look to put on the sparkling performance ahead in his 100th test match. England under Ben Stokes will walk into the ground on 7th March with the aim of clinching crucial World Test Championship points. England currently sit 8th in the points table with 3 wins and 5 losses to their name.