England under the Bazball era with Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum at the helm has made a lot of changes to the team ethos. If playing with the freedom and aggressive brand of cricket has been the on-field mantra in their tenure playing golf has been off-field time-off which many of the squad members seem to embrace.
After losing the fourth Test match in Ranchi and the five-match series 3-1 with a Test to go in Dharmshala starting on March 7th Ben Stokes and Co. arrived in Chandigarh on Wednesday as there is a longer break between the fourth Test and the fifth Test. The England think tank seems to have decided to spend their time playing golf in Chandigarh Golf Club for two days before leaving to the foot of the Himalayas for the final game.
In the previous longer break during the second and third Tests, the team traveled to Abu Dhabi.
England wicketkeeper-batsman Ben Foakes arrive at the Chandigarh Golf Club. (Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh)
Scorecard doesn’t give credit
“It was a great test match,” said England skipper Ben Stokes after losing the fourth Test match in Ranchi by five wickets.
“The scoreboard says India won by five wickets but it doesn’t credit the way things unfolded, the ebbs and flows on every single day. I can only be proud of my team. We have some inexperienced spinners but they have kept bowling. I am proud of their efforts.”
England off-spinner Shoaib bashir at the Chandigarh Golf Club. (Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh)
England had won the first test in Hyderabad by 28 runs. India responded by winning the second test in Visakhapatnam by 106 runs, and then the third test in Rajkot by 434 runs. The fifth test will be played in Dharamshala from March 7.
England captain Ben Stokes playing golf at the Chandigarh Golf Club. (Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh)
India climbed to second in the world test championship table with a win percentage of 64.58 in eight matches. England slipped to eighth with a win percentage of 19.44 in eight games.