England learnt on Monday that “Bazball”, attractive as it may be, is not the panacea for all of cricket’s challenges and enduring mysteries. For, in conditions that test patience, and against a home attack that knows it’s way around every crack and every patch of rough on the surface, England’s approach of relentless, all-out attack came predictably unstuck.

On a slow Ranchi track, where batters could score only if they applied themselves, India rode on fighting half-centuries by skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, and a solid unbeaten knock by one of the finds of the series, Dhruv Jurel, to win the fourth Test by five wickets with more than a day to spare.

India’s unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series cemented the first Test series defeat inflicted on England since Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes teamed up in the summer of 2022 and adopted a model that, they felt, was a reinvention of cricket. But the home truths of an international format that is nearly 150 years old came back to bite them.

The fifth Test in Dharamsala next week will now be more or less academic, though its run-up may be peppered with the vainglorious chase for that most futile of sporting quests — “moral victory”.

With the victory, India extended their home Test series dominance into the 12th year — since the defeat against England in 2012, they have won 17 series in a row. But this win will be savoured more than most others as India were challenged by a side playing unconventional cricket; and were without Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami for the entire series, KL Rahul after the first Test, and Jasprit Bumrah in the crucial fourth at Ranchi.

It was hardly a stroll on Monday though. Needing 152 more after resuming on 40/0, Rohit Sharma showed the fortitude to take most of the strike, attacking pace spearhead James Anderson and young off-spinner Shoaib Bashir despite the cracks and occasional unpredictable bounce.

India were in a spot of bother after losing four quick wickets either side of lunch — left-arm spinner Tom Hartley removed Sharma (55), and Bashir dismissed Rajat Patidar (0), Ravindra Jadeja (4) and Sarfaraz Khan (0); the last two off successive balls in the first over after the break.

But wicket-keeper Jurel showed India have young players with the technique and temperament to excel at Test level and was declared the Player of the Match after remaining unbeaten on 39 to follow his 90 in the first innings that brought India back into the match.

He denied Bashir a hat-trick as he joined Shubman Gill (52*), and the pair cautiously added 72 runs for the unbroken sixth wicket. Gill hit two sixes to stamp his authority only once the victory was all but assured.

McCullum and Stokes since coming together as coach and captain in May 2022 have inspired England to play a bold brand of cricket that has seen 300-plus totals being chased down one-day style. But the flip side -- and it was evident in India -- is that as they haven’t exhibited the flexibility to play situational cricket needed to negate an experienced attack on pitches that require application and patience.

Stokes endured horrible form in the series, scoring just one fifty so far. Joe Root was woefully out of form till he went back to playing old-school cricket and scored a hundred that gave England an upper hand in the first half of this Test. Zak Crawley’s fifty was the only contribution of note in the second innings as England failed to set India a steep target.

At the heart of this stirring Indian comeback were some brilliant performances from the younger players.

Yashashvi Jaiswal, 22, has already aggregated 655 runs with two double hundreds at Visakhapatnam and Rajkot, and two fifties. Shubman Gill was scratchy early on but roughed it out and averages 48.85, helped by a hundred at Visakhapatnam.

Jurel’s knock in the first innings was why India trimmed down England’s first innings lead to 46. In the second innings, too, he showed maturity to find singles to ease the pressure.

Four debuts — Rajat Patidar, Jurel, Sarfaraz Khan and Akash Deep — in the series showed how deep India had to dig to find the right combination. Barring Patidar, who just didn’t look the part, others produced innings or match-altering spells to remember.

“It clearly tells me they (youngsters) want to be here,” Sharma said at the post-match presentation.

“All the hard work they have done in the past, coming up playing domestic cricket and performing there, coming here is a big challenge. But when I look at them, talk to them, the responses I get from them are quite encouraging... There was pressure from the outside, not inside, but I thought they responded very well to all the situations. When you make a mark like that, it holds you in a good position to have a long career.”

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