Bazball falls as India's gen next hold fort against Eng

England learnt on Monday that "Bazball", attractive as it may be, is not the panacea for all of cricket's challenges and enduring mysteries.

- Somshuvra Laha

For, in conditions that test patience, and against a home attack that knows it's way around every crack and every patch of rough on the surface, England's approach of relentless, all-out attack came predictably unstuck.

On a slow Ranchi track, where batters could score only if they applied themselves, India rode on fighting half-centuries by skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, and a solid unbeaten knock by one of the finds of the series, Dhruv Jurel, to win the fourth Test by five wickets with more than a day to spare.

India's unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series cemented the first Test series defeat inflicted on England since Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes teamed up in the summer of 2022 and adopted a model that, they felt, was a reinvention of cricket. But the home truths of an international format that is nearly 150 years old came back to bite them.

The fifth Test in Dharamsala next week will now be more or less academic, though its run-up may be peppered with the vainglorious chase for that most futile of sporting quests "moral victory".