England let the game slip... - Nasser Hussain reveals where England lost the fourth Test against India

India has sealed the series with an unassailable lead of 3-1 after winning the fourth Test against England which was played at the Jharkhand State Cricket Association Stadium in Ranchi. England lost a Test series under the leadership of Ben Stokes for the first time and former England skipper Nasser Hussain reckons England did not know whether to stick or twist in the second innings. The Ben Stokes-led side lost three matches on the trot to lose their first Test series.

England won the toss and elected to bat first in Ranchi. They scored 353 in the first innings as Joe Root smashed an unbeaten 122 off 274 balls. India scored 307 in their first innings laying back on Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 73 (117) and Dhruv Jurel’s 90 (149). Ravichandran Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav wreaked havoc to get England bundled for 145 in their second innings as both took figures of 5/51 and 4/15 respectively in the second innings.

India got a target of 192 to chase in the fourth innings which was quite easy for the hosts to chase even though they lost quick wickets after a brilliant opening stand of 84 between Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma. Shubman Gill and Dhruv Jurel finished the match for the team and India won the Test match by five wickets. Nasser Hussain talks about where the game slipped for England and for him, it was the entire Day 3 where the match was slipped from the hands of Ben Stokes and company.

“There is no shame in losing to this India side but obviously, like with any Test series and any Test match, you look at key areas where you let the game slip and for me, all of yesterday. What could have been a 100-run lead ended up being 46 and then in your third innings you don’t know whether to stick or twist and I think England batted in that collapse 26 overs for that 37/5 which, for this side, to go just over one run an over shows they didn’t know whether to stick or twist yesterday,” said Nasser Hussain.

England’s Bazball was a complete failure in Indian conditions

England started the series on a high by winning the series opener in Hyderabad by 28 runs but then India made a sensational comeback to win three games on the trot and seal the series. Bazball, which was undefeated since the last seven Test series has been finally defeated by a young and inexperienced Indian lineup that played some textbook-style Test cricket against England and paved their way to victory. Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum need to retrospect on their Bazball after such a terrible defeat against an inexperienced side.

Bazball is not an official term but a term that describes England’s aggressive approach in Test cricket. It is coined from Brendon McCullum’s nickname ‘Baz’. Since he took charge of the England Test side, he has introduced the Bazball style of play which is to play aggressive cricket in Test matches and choke the opponents with the pressure of free-flowing runs and boundaries. India was a different challenge for this strategy and they pocketed the strategy with their own textbook and technical cricket.