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India handed England their first series defeat in the ‘Bazball’ era heralded by Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum. As the two teams get down to action one final time in the fifth Test in Dharamsala, the Stokes-led side would like to go back home with a 2-3 series result. After winning the first Test, the side is on a three-match losing streak. Former England captain Nasser Hussain fells that for all the talks about Bazball, sitting second last in the World Test Championship table tells a lot.

“For all the good things that this England team have done in making people want to watch their matches, right now they sit second bottom in the World Test Championship table and to me results remain the most important currency,” Nasser Hussain wrote in his column for Daily Mail.

“In the end, all sports teams are judged on their statistics. How they end up at the end of a season or a series. In cricket, how many runs you scored, the wickets you took.”

“This England side have provided great viewing over the past two years, too, but the win-loss ratio is the most important thing in my eyes, so they must get the scoreline versus India back to 3-2 in Dharamshala this week,” he added.

“Of course, they’ll still have lost the series, but they can then point to the third days of the third and fourth Tests, when they let things slip on each occasion, as a justification that they were competitive across the entire five-match tour. That they simply failed to take their opportunities.”

Hussain added that the ‘gulf between” India and England was huge.

“Come home with a 4-1 defeat, though, and the gulf between the sides looks huge. Inevitably, it will feel like the same old story for England in India,” he said.

“The wheels came off after England won the first match of the series in India three years ago, but this time they must tell themselves there is no such thing as a dead rubber, and pick the best XI to win this game – not worry about the future, who’s going to be playing in the Ashes down the line, or giving someone a ‘go’.”