- By Stephan Shemilt
- Chief cricket writer in Rajkot
Image source, Getty Images
England won the first Test in India but are now 2-1 down with two to play
Coach Brendon McCullum says England are “hurting” after their massive defeat by India, but have “no regrets”.
England were beaten by 434 runs in the third Test in Rajkot, their largest defeat in terms of runs since 1934, to go 2-1 down in the five-match series.
“We’ll turn the page and go quids in again trying to put India under pressure,” said McCullum.
“Hopefully in seven or eight days we’ll be talking about how exciting it is to be heading into a decider.”
The fourth Test in Ranchi begins on Friday.
A superb win for England in the first Test in Hyderabad was followed by defeats in Visakhapatnam and Rajkot. In both the second and third Tests, England wasted solid opportunities to take control.
On the third morning in Rajkot, England were 224-2 in reply to the hosts’ 445, with India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin absent because of a family emergency.
However, England lost eight wickets for 95 runs to surrender the initiative and, little more than a day later, collapsed to 122 all out in their second innings to hand India their biggest win of all time.
England have enjoyed great success under McCullum and captain Ben Stokes, with a swashbuckling brand of cricket earning 14 wins from 20 Tests prior to Rajkot.
But this defeat has led to criticism that their method is not adaptable enough for the changing situations and conditions of Test cricket.
McCullum told BBC Sport he “absolutely” understands the criticism, but his team will block out “outside noise”.
“People are entitled to their opinion, good, bad or ugly,” said the former New Zealand captain. “It’s up to us whether we want to listen to it or not.
“The dressing room is a very strong place where confidence is high and guys are backed to go out there and allow their talent to flourish. If we allow the outside noise to seep in, that’s our problem.”
Ben Stokes defends Joe Root’s dismissal after heavy third-Test loss to India
McCullum and Stokes took over after England had endured a run of only one win in 17 Tests. This defeat was their sixth in 21 matches since June 2002.
“We’ve still got some progress to make and some things to improve on, but we’re a better team now than we were 18 months ago,” said 42-year-old McCullum.
“We’re obviously not totally screwed down on the method yet. There will be times when we don’t quite get it right because it’s a hard way to play. It’s asking guys to take the game on and sometimes we have to deal with failure.
“The upside is hopefully continuing to put bums on seats, make Test cricket more entertaining, we’ll win more often and we’ll be a team that people really want to follow.”
England’s first-innings collapse in Rajkot was sparked by Joe Root attempting a reverse scoop at the pace of Jasprit Bumrah, only to be caught at second slip.
Debate has centred on whether Root, England’s second-highest run-scorer in Test cricket, is being hampered by trying to play too aggressively.
Root’s average under McCullum of 50.12 is marginally higher than his career mark of 49.32.
However, it is down on the 54.36 Root was averaging in the 20 Tests before McCullum took over, when the former captain was in the best form of his career, scoring eight hundreds in that period.
“People see a shot like that and go, ‘Joe Root is struggling to deal with this new regime’,” said McCullum.
“His impact on the game is still very, very significant. Imagine if this becomes the norm for Joe as well, with the talent he possesses and the history he’s got. Then what’s the ceiling?
“Do we want just a normal Joe Root, or do we want an even better Joe Root? How many games are we going to win if that happens.”
McCullum also backed Jonny Bairstow, who has a highest score of 37 on the tour. McCullum said he would “anticipate” Bairstow will play in the next Test.
England are unbeaten in Test series under McCullum. They came from 1-0 down to beat South Africa in 2022, then 2-0 down against Australia to draw the Ashes last summer.
“We won the first one here when halfway through the Test no-one would have given us a chance, then we lost the next two,” said McCullum.
“I’m pretty excited about the next two. If we bounce back from this then we’ll know this team is starting to get where we want it to get to.
“Too right we can win the series.”
Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
