'I thought he made a big error...': Former England cricketer on Ben Stokes' captaincy against India

Despite winning the Test series opener against India, the England cricket team failed to retain their lead and conceded three defeats on the trot. The loss marks Ben Stokes’ first Test series defeat since being appointed the leader of the side. Former England cricketer Geoffrey Boycott opened up on Stokes’ style of captaincy.

Boycott felt that Stokes had made a mistake by opting to open the bowling with spinners—Joe Root and Tom Hartley—in the second innings of the fourth Test played in Ranchi.

“I like Stokes’s captaincy but I thought he made a big error by opening the bowling with two spinner, Root and Tom Hartley. In 25 minutes at the end of day three India easily scored 40 priceless runs. What is just as important is that it gave their innings momentum. It was imperative to make runs hard to come by,” Boycott wrote in his column for The Telegraph.

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“Stokes was thinking that a harder new ball will bounce more and a raised seam will create more spin. The problem is that unless you are experienced at bowling spin with a new ball then the lacquer makes it slip out of the fingers so it is difficult to drop it on a length. When I played, spinners could rub the ball in the dirt to rough it up and grip it better but that is banned now so it is hard for them to control. I think Stokes out-thought himself,” the 83-year-old added.

Boycott felt that England pacer James Anderson should have opened the bowling as he does not have the knack of giving away runs. Chasing a total of 192, India lost five wickets on the way to chasing the target down. Skipper Rohit Sharma played a fine knock of 55 while Shubman Gill remained unbeaten on 52.

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Young India wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel was also pivotal as he produced a match-winning unbeaten knock of 39 in the second innings. Jurel missed out on his maiden international century by 10 runs in the first innings. He was adjudged Player of the Match.

With the fate of the Test series decided, India will now be aiming to continue their winning run in the final fixture scheduled to start on 7 March in Dharamsala.