For the first time under Ben Stokes, England’s spirit was broken. They looked shattered after a savaging that will stretch Bazball’s sunny disposition to the limit.
Now we will find out if it really is built on an infinite well of positivity after a 434-run defeat that ranks among the heaviest in Test history.
After the first proper hammering of their tenure, Stokes and Brendon McCullum will lift their players by sticking to the script and extolling the virtues of their ways. Bazball has to be seen in the round they will say, not one match. Across 21 games it has made England a much better side. But at its core is putting unrelenting pressure back on your opponents. In Rajkot, they piled it on themselves.
During the Ashes they were similarly overgenerous against Australia at Lord’s and paid for it. They bounced back by channelling their attacking mindset better and reining in the ego. They have until Friday when the next Test starts in Ranchi, to accept it is not a weakness to sometimes play the longer game.
This was a freakish defeat given the margin and how quickly the match spun on its axis after Joe Root’s reverse ramp, but that is not to denigrate India’s achievement. They were outstanding, their mental resolve to cope with the shock loss of Ravi Ashwin before play on day three, and to withstand Ben Duckett’s barrage was a lesson for England.
The way they rebuilt from 33 for three to a 445 first-innings total and then ruthlessly crushed England’s bowlers on day four through the dashing Yashasvi Jaiswal’s second double century of the series was textbook Test cricket in Asian conditions.
England played the part of hapless pushovers, handing their advantage to their opponents to suffer a sixth defeat under Stokes, who for the first time saw a match taken completely out of his control. India became the first team to declare against Stokes, and after Jaiswal’s assault on the senses they were mentally shot when faced with a 557-run target and the prospect of four sessions to bat.
They were soft touches. Within 10 overs England were 20 for three, 60 for six after 23 and all out for 122 within 40, bowled out in the penultimate over of the day. It was England’s heaviest defeat by runs since before India’s partition – against Australia in 1934. In the history of all Test cricket only seven teams have lost by a greater margin of runs.
