Former England captain Michael Vaughan praised Team India for securing an unassailable lead in the present Test series against England following a hard-fought victory in the fourth match in Ranchi. The 48-year-old believes the victory is more noteworthy because the hosts are without at least five first-choice players.
India began Day 4 of the Ranchi Test at 40-0, chasing 192. Openers Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal were on the crease. The hosts subsequently fell to 120-5 at one point, but Shubman Gill and Dhruv Jurel collaborated for an unbroken 72-run stand to take the team over the line.
Speaking on BBC Test Match Special, Michael Vaughan emphasized how India often recovered from difficult situations to win the match. Michael Vaughan believes the series victory speaks well for their future and praised Gill and Jurel’s cool play.
“They’ve got five world-class players missing. They also lost a very important toss [in Ranchi], and they faced a first-innings deficit. It’s an incredible win for now, but also for the future of this team. England wanted Jurel and Gill to play aggressively after lunch, because that would give them a chance to take wickets. But they played sensibly, and just knocked it around. Shubman Gill was Mr Calm, he played with so much clarity and control.”
Michael Vaughan
Shubman Gill had excellent tolerance and patience in leading his side to victory. The right-hander hit his first boundary on the 120th ball of his innings and is undefeated on 52 after 124 deliveries.
“They were a lot of challenges thrown at us” – Indian captain Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma, Team India’s captain, confessed it was a relief to win the Test series in Ranchi. He congratulated the students for rising to the obstacles they faced. He stated during the post-match presentation:
“It has been a very hard-fought series without a doubt and to come on the right side of it at the end of four Test matches feels really good. Really proud of everyone in the dressing room. They were a lot of challenges thrown at us but I thought we responded pretty well. We had different challenges in different Test matches and I thought we were quite composed in what we wanted to achieve and what we wanted to do on the field, very happy.”
Rohit Sharma
On March 7, the series’ fifth and final Test will get underway in Dharamsala.