Former English skipper Nasser Hussain has questioned England’s aggressive approach. Hussain said what good is entertainment if you are placed at the number eight position in the World Test Championship points table. England is in eighth place in the standings with three wins, five losses, and one draw in nine matches in WTC 2023-25 cycle.
The Ben Stokes-led team has a win percentage of 19.44 and hasn’t got the desired results. England lost two matches against Australia in the Ashes and have lost three games against India in the ongoing series.
The Three Lions won the opening Test match against India at Hyderabad by 28 runs but could not carry the good show in the remaining three games. The visitors had their noses in front in a lot of situations but failed to grab their chance.
“For all the good things that this England team have done in making people want to watch their matches, right now they sit second bottom in the World Test Championship table and to me results remain the most important currency. In the end, all sports teams are judged on their statistics. How they end up at the end of a season or a series. In cricket, how many runs you scored, the wickets you took,” Hussain has written in his column for Daily Mail.
Hussain acknowledged that while England has produced eye-catching games in the last couple of years, the win-loss ratio is important for him.
“This England side have provided great viewing over the past two years, too, but the win-loss ratio is the most important thing in my eyes, so they must get the scoreline versus India back to 3-2 in Dharamshala this week,” Hussain said.
“Of course, they’ll still have lost the series, but they can then point to the third days of the third and fourth Tests, when they let things slip on each occasion, as a justification that they were competitive across the entire five-match tour. That they simply failed to take their opportunities,” he further added.
The fifth and final Test match will be played at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala from March 7.
