England skipper Ben Stokes and India coach Rahul Dravid spoke in the aftermath of an enthralling five-Test series, which the hosts won 4-1.
After losing the first Test in Hyderabad by a close margin of 28 runs, the hosts struck back and recorded four successive wins. They won in Vizag by 106 runs, in Rajkot by 434 runs, in Ranchi by five wickets, and now in Dharamsala by an innings and 64 runs.
Since their last series loss to England at home in 2012, India have won 17 successive Test series in their backyard. Speaking to the reporters in the post-match press conference, Dravid spoke highly of India’s dominant run at home,
“Yes, defeats in India have been rare,” Dravid said. “For players, it’s not easy (to continue winning), and sometimes it’s really heartening to see that in the last decade or so, India has been able to string together this successful series (of wins).”
On paper, it might seem like India held the upper hand, but the series was much more closely contested. Dravid reflected on how England pushed India on several occasions in a competitive Test series,
“I think we dominated this Test, but the first four Tests, there were periods of play when they put us in a little bit of pressure. On the third day in Rajkot and Ranchi, I think England had the ascendancy in both days.
“The heartening thing for me was how well our experienced players stepped up in those situations.”
Big names like Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami missed the whole series, while India were without the services of Ravindra Jadeja, KL Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah at various stages. Yet Dravid was pleased with how the side fought back after losing the first Test,
“The fact that we lost the first Test match, and had to bounce back from there. (And we) had to do it with a slightly different team to the one we probably expected to start the series maybe a few months ago.
“To be put under pressure at various stages, in the first four Test matches, and to be able to bounce back from that makes you feel very happy. We’re proud and happy about the way the team has evolved and grown. And just happy for the boys to step up and be able to execute those skills under pressure.”
India also saw youngsters like Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel and Akash Deep join hands with the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill and Kuldeep Yadav to notch up crucial performances throughout the series,
“It was amazing to see the young guys step up. Everyone in their own way put in performances and played a part for the team, which was really heartening to see.”
In the opposite camp, England skipper Ben Stokes admitted that they’d been outplayed by a better side.
“Now that the series has come to an end, I don’t give too much away, obviously, whilst the series is going on, but since the first Test match of the series, we’re man enough and we’re big enough to say that we’ve been outplayed by the better team in the series,” Stokes said at the post-match presentation. “But we’ve got so much cricket coming up in our summer, and then Pakistan and New Zealand.
“Taking the positives that we’ve got from the series is something that I’m really looking forward to. I’m excited to be a part of driving this team even further forward.”
Stokes reflected that while there had been occasions when England were able to wrest the initiative away from India, they couldn’t do it for a sustained period,
“When you look at the series as a whole, there’s been really small moments throughout every Test match where we wrestled a bit of momentum back towards us, but we’ve not just been able to maintain and keep that going,” Stokes said speaking to the broadcasters TNT.
“And in Test match cricket, especially out here where the game can turn really fast on you, it’s about understanding that and trying to understand those moments and being a bit more relentless with it. How that looks, I’m not sure, but we’re all here at the highest level playing cricket. I think we all know as individuals that that’s probably where it’s gone wrong for us, on more than one occasion.”
This is the first-ever series loss for the England Test side under the leadership of Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum.
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