"Proud of our effort, but India were better skill-wise": England skipper Stokes after facing defeat vs India

Ben Stokes

England captain Ben Stokes said he was "proud" of his team's effort, especially that of young spinners Shoaib Bashir, 20, and Tom Hartley, 24, despite their five-wicket defeat in the Ranchi Test. This is Sokes's first-ever series defeat as captain.

"It was a great Test match. If you see the scoreboard, it'll say India won by five wickets, but it doesn't give credit to the way things unfolded - the ebbs and flows on every single day. I can only be proud of my team. We've had some inexperienced spinners [Bashir and Hartley], but I'm proud of their effort. They came here without a lot of exposure, but just kept bowling. I can't ask for anything more. Part of my captaincy is allowing the young guys to revel and the freedom to play in some difficult and intimidating conditions in India," Stokes said at the post-match press conference.

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The visiting skipper did admit that it is "disappointing" that his team failed to grab the key moments of the game, but also credited his Indian counterparts for out-skilling them when it mattered most.

"It's always disappointing being on the losing team. Looking back at when we had our chance to bat yesterday - cricket is always skill against skill. Ashwin, Jadeja and Kuldeep and the conditions we found ourselves in against them was very challenging. When India have a sniff in conditions like that, any team is going to find it hard to not only keep the scoreboard ticking, but also to rotate the strike. You've got to give them a lot of credit for the way they bowled in very favourable conditions. On this occasion, their skill was better than ours yesterday [Sunday]," Stokes said.

The all-rounder reserved special praise for Bashir, who took eight wickets in this match. "Bashir - what a story, what a journey, taking eight wickets including a fifer against India after having hardly played a lot of cricket is superb. I've been here for a couple of years [as captain] and the only thing I can say is that we left nothing on the field. We fought hard and I'm happy with that."

The England team will split up and take a week's break across Bengaluru and Chandigarh ahead of the fifth Test that starts in Dharamsala on 7 March. The squad will reassemble on March 4.