India extended their outstanding run of home form, sealing a 4-1 series victory with a comprehensive innings victory at Dharamshala.
The scoreline was unflattering for the tourists who were unable to convert openings into dominance. Their middle order failed to stamp their authority on the series with their numbers three to seven managing just four fifty-plus scores from 50 innings between them.
Here’s how the 14 players used by England across the series fared.
Zak Crawley: 7/10
407 runs at 40.70; four fifties, HS: 79
Comfortably England’s most consistent batter across the series, though that accolade means less than it ought to on this occasion. He will be frustrated that he couldn’t convert one of his several starts into a match-defining contribution but in general, Crawley showed how much he has come along over the past 12 months against a genuinely elite attack in home conditions.
Ben Duckett: 5.5/10
343 runs @ 34.30; one hundred, HS: 153
Duckett’s 153 was his sole fifty-plus score in a series where he routinely got England off to promising starts alongside Crawley up top. The pair put on five fifty-plus partnerships in as many games – this is not where the series was lost for the tourists.
Ollie Pope: 4.5/10
315 runs @ 31.50; one hundred, HS: 196
How much weight do you put on one performance? A truly epic hundred in Hyderabad carried England to one of their all-time great overseas victories – the way the series finished, both for the team and for Pope personally, shouldn’t detract from that achievement. His tour did tail off dramatically thereafter, however, as England’s No. 3 failed to make the most of the solid platforms established by the openers.
Joe Root: 5.5/10
320 runs @ 35.55; one hundred, HS: 122*
Eight wickets @ 51; no five-fors, BBI: 4-79
Finished the series superbly but took three Tests to get going. His dismissal reverse-scooping in Rajkot will go down as one of the defining moments of the series. Root effectively began the series as an all-rounder before seeing his bowling responsibilities diminish as the tour progressed.
Jonny Bairstow: 3/10
238 runs @ 23.80; no hundreds, HS: 39
A flurry of entertaining cameos were as good as it got for Bairstow. Playing as a specialist batter at five, none of his contributions left a significant mark on any of the five Tests. Kuldeep Yadav faced more deliveries than Bairstow this series from one fewer appearance.
Ben Stokes: 3/10
199 runs @ 19.90; no hundreds, HS: 70
One wicket @ 17; no five-fors, BBI: 1-17
Another senior player to endure a poor series. Stokes led his young spinners well but with the bat – and he was a specialist batter for the vast majority of the tour – his impact was minimal. It is now four years since the England captain averaged more than 35 with the bat in an away series.
Ben Foakes: 4/10
205 runs @ 20.50; no hundreds, HS: 47
12 catches, four stumpings
Another middle-order man without a significant score, though he played crucial supporting roles for England’s leading men in Hyderabad and Ranchi. Twenty-five Tests into his career, Foakes has never batted in the top six and remains an unconvincing shepherd of the tail. A crucial drop of KL Rahul in Hyderabad aside, Foakes was very good behind the stumps.
Rehan Ahmed: 5/10
76 runs @ 12.66; no fifties, HS: 28
11 wickets @ 44; no five-fors, BBI: 3-65
An encouraging set of appearances for the teenager. His leg-break has come a long way over the past 12 months and he bowls relatively few bad balls for a young wrist-spinner.
Tom Hartley: 6/10
185 runs @ 18.50; no fifties, HS: 36
22 wickets @ 36.13; one five-for, BBI: 7-62
The only England bowler to play in all five Tests. A match-winner in Hyderabad and consistently plucky with bat in hand, the Lancashire spinner acquitted himself well on his first tour as a Test cricketer.
Shoaib Bashir: 7/10
17 wickets @ 33.35; two five-fors, BBI: 5-119
Comfortably England’s most threatening first innings spinner, Bashir clearly possesses attributes that will cause the good players problems even on pitches offering minimal turn. It will be fascinating to see how his development goes from here. Like Hartley, he returns home to be his county’s second-choice spinner.
Jack Leach: 6/10
Two wickets @ 48; no five-fors, BBI: 1-33
Leach’s desperate run of luck continued as a knee injury he picked up in Hyderabad restricted his involvement to just the series opener. England’s No.1 spinner bowled manfully, battling through the pain to perform a vital containing role.
James Anderson: 6/10
10 wickets @ 33.50; no five-fors, BBI: 3-47
A vast improvement on his 2023 Ashes campaign where he was largely unthreatening. Anderson was typically frugal and kept chipping away on a series of pitches there hardly seamers’ paradises.
Mark Wood: 5/10
Four wickets @ 77.75; no five-fors, BBI: 4-114
He bowled better than his numbers suggest though England are perhaps guilty of being too eager in resorting to the short-ball with Wood.
Ollie Robinson: 4/10
58 runs @ 29; no hundreds, HS: 58
No wickets
A hard player to rate because as much as he was short on rhythm with the ball, his half-century with the bat was an important one.
