NEW DELHI: Despite experiencing his first series defeat as England Test captain against India,
Ben Stokes
expressed pride in his team's commitment. The 32-year-old acknowledged India's unassailable 3-1 lead in the series after a hard-fought five-wicket victory in Ranchi on Monday.
India faced a challenging task, needing 192 runs to win after England's second-innings collapse. Although England's off-spinner
Shoaib Bashir
(3-79) led a spirited fightback, India managed to secure their third successive victory, showcasing resilience in the face of adversity.
"I think it was a great Test match. The scoreline says India win by five wickets but I don't think that gives enough credit to sum up the game as a whole," Stokes said at the presentation ceremony.
"I've been doing this for two years now and my message is always consistent -- it's about your input to the team and don't worry too much about the output.
"Everyone has thrown everything into every Test match here, nothing has been left out on the field and that's all I will ever ask from them."
England emerged victorious in the first Test in Hyderabad and demonstrated competitiveness in both the second Test in Visakhapatnam and the one in Ranchi.
With
Jack Leach
suffering a tour-ending knee injury in Hyderabad, England fielded an inexperienced spin attack that included Bashir and Tom Hartley both of whom made their test debut in this series.
"That's the way I am as a captain - allowing these guys to come into what could be a very intimidating situation against India in a test match, to treat every ball as on occasion rather than thinking something in the past that can't be changed," Stokes said.
"The series has shown a lot of talent, for us and India. I love test cricket and we've seen some young, inexperienced players perform and the future looks bright in this format."
Four Indian players, including Dhruv Jurel, also made their debuts in the series and home captain
Rohit Sharma
singled out the wicketkeeper-batter whose 90 and 39 not out in his second test earned him the player-of-the-match award.
"It has been a very hard-fought series. To come on the right side after four test feels really good," said Rohit.
"Jurel showed solid composure, calmness and has the shots as well. In the second innings he showed a lot of composure and maturity."
India were in a spot of bother at 120-5 before Jurel shared an unbroken 72-run stand with Shubman Gill to see the hosts home.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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