Captain Rohit Sharma has praised the “superb” performances of India’s less experienced players after sealing a 3-1 series win over England on the fourth day of the fourth Test in Ranchi on Monday.
The hosts recovered from going 1-0 behind in the series and being without the likes of Virat Kohli, Mohammed Shami and Rishabh Pant, while KL Rahul missed all but one Test.
Dhruv Jirel scored 129 across the fourth Test, including a decisive partnership with Shubman Gill, who is a year his senior at 24 and finished on 52 not out.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, who made his debut in July, also starred with 73 in the first innings as India won by five wickets.
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“Given where we were at before the series, with a lot of players missing… the guys who have come in have done the job perfectly,” said 36-year-old Sharma.
“They’ve taken the responsibility perfectly. You can take a lot of pride from performances like this with inexperienced players.
“Test cricket throws different kinds of challenges and pressures. The way some of these guys have dealt with the pressures throughout the series has been superb.
“A lot of these young guys have never played test cricket before, never been part of the dressing room.”
India vs England: Squad newcomers have ‘open mind’
Sharma was also impressed by the way the relative newcomers had “adapted to the style of what we want to do”.
“These guys have come with an open mind – ‘whatever is required, I’m going to put my hand up and do it,'” he observed.
“Those are the guys you need. A lot of these guys are quite young and you will see these guys, in five or 10 years, playing regularly in this format, for sure. They have scored big runs and been quite impressive with the ball.”
India recovered from 177-7 in the first innings and held off a fine showing from England’s Shoaib Bashir, whose performance included five wickets in the first innings and two in two balls shortly after lunch on the fourth day.
