India vs England, 4th Test at Ranchi, IND v ENG, Feb 23 2024 - Match Result

2.20pm And so, that is a wrap from Ranchi. It's been another enthralling Test match, and another game in which England's best efforts have been thwarted by a combination of youthful exuberance and wise old heads. It's onwards and upwards, to Dharamsala next, for a high-altitude finale to a high-octane series. From Miller, Monga, Alan, Chandan and the rest of the team, thanks for joining us, goodnight!

Dhruv Jurel, quite rightly, is Player of the Match. "Whatever the situation demands, I want to do that. In our 1st innings, I thought the more runs I score now, the fewer runs we would have to in our 2nd innings. (First innings) Our wickets were falling, and I was batting with lower-order batters, but we got partnerships with them. So they deserve some credit too. (Anderson, Wood in third Test) Felt good playing against them because I saw them on TV. Focus was on seeing the ball, not the bowler. Gill and I were discussing about making small tasks. To approach the chase in sets of ten runs each."

Rohit Sharma: "It's been a very hard-fought series, so to come on the right side of it feels very good. A lot of challenges thrown at us but we responded and were quite composed. These guys want to be here, growing up in the domestic circuit, local club-cricket, and coming here. It's a big challenge, but the responses I get are encouraging. We have to give them the environment they want to be in, we can't just keep talking to them, they are very clear in what they want to do. Jurel showed composure, calmness and shots all round the wicket. His first-innings 90 was crucial, and again in the second innings along with Gill.

"It's always not pleasing when you miss key players, but there's nothing we can do as a group. To fill their shoes was not easy, but they responded really well. When you make a mark like that, you hold yourself in a good position for a long career. This will motivate them. We turn up to every Test thinking we want to win, this is a great series, want to turn up in fifth and put our best foot forward. Confident we will put on a good show."

Ben Stokes: "It was a great Test match, the scoreboard doesn't give enough credit to the game as a whole, the ebbs and flows. So much credit to our spinners, being exposed to a situation like that at the start of their careers. I couldn't be more proud. That's the way I am as a person, allowing these guys to come into an intimidating situation and treat every ball as an occasion. It's brought out a lot of talent not just for us but for India. I'm a massive Test cricket fan. We've been good in periods, yesterday with the bat was incredibly hard against Ashwin, Jadeja and Kuldeep, close to impossible. We didn't think the pitch would get any better, and we've seen that today.

"Root, incredible knock, the criticism wasn't very fair, class is permanent etc. And Bashir, what a journey, very proud of him. You come into series and you want to win, but my message has been consistent. It's about the input, we don't worry about output. Everyone gave their all."

Shubman Gill has been speaking to Jio: "We were put under pressure, but got a good start from our openers. Jurel came out and took the pressure off, he saw the situation and played accordingly. They were protecting the boundaries, so it was about not giving maidens and keep picking the singles. He batted beautifully in the first innings and had to have the same mindset. I decided to take lbw out of the equation by using my feet.

"It means the world to us, playing the series with not much batting experience, losing KL after the first Test.. but Rohit Bhai backed us and gave us the confidence to go out and play with freedom."

1.49pm So, that is England's first series loss since Stokes and McCullum came together as captain and coach. They've had some big opportunities in this series, and of course a famous win in Hyderabad, but ultimately they've been muscled off the ball at the key moments.

S Kishore: "What a turnaround from India. Having lost the first match, England had held the aces to win the series, but credit to India to fightback and steal the series victory."

Vinayak: "Well, the scoreline does not reflect how closely the series has been fought .. rings a bell?" It does actually... India were significantly better than 1-4 on the 2018 tour of England. I wouldn't be surprised if that scoreline is repeated now

Tanay: "Had Stokes started with Anderson yesterday instead of hartley then this could have been different. The 40 runs scored in the last session yesterday could have been the difference between win and the loss" Yes, that was a mis-step from Stokes. A few overs of guaranteed composure from England's senior pro might have got them into their work rather better.

Srikanth Pilla: "Kids cannot win trophies, an old saying disproven twice in a span of a day. Liverpool Football Club and Indian Cricket Team"

Sam: "England may claim moral victories and but need series wins to be a world beating team" It's a fair point. That's two big ones slipped through their fingers now. But let's see how they take their approach to Australia next time out...

1.38pm Gill and Jurel embrace in the middle. It's been a titanic display from India's sixth-wicket pair, calming some serious post-lunch jitters to seal the series with a game to spare.

England gave them a run for their money with those five wickets either side of lunch, but ultimately they were undone by their failure to cement that dominance at the close of day two. And Jurel deserves so much credit for that, his first-innings 90 was decisive... another 50 runs to chase in this innings, and it could have been significantly squeakier. Rohit and Jaiswal did a fine job at the top of the order too, and Gill continued his quietly significant series with a crucial battling half-century.

Sampath has an interesting stat, which confirms the extent to which India's kids have come good:

Highest ratio between Test caps of opposition and India's XI where they won:

2.83 vs Australia, Chennai 2001 (617 vs 218)

2.51 vs England, Vizag 2024 (632 vs 252)

2.35 vs Australia, Brisbane 2021 (505 vs 215)

2.27 vs England, Ranchi 2024 (668 vs 294)

2.25 vs Australia, Delhi 1996 (369 vs 164)

2.12 vs England, Rajkot 2024 (674 vs 318)

Three of the top six came in this series only

Credit too, to England's young spinners, particularly Shoaib Bashir, whose eight-wicket performance carried his team's fight at the age of 20 and, like Jurel, is in his second Test.

Vishal: "what a match, what a series this has been so far. Test cricket is not for you if you are not glued to this series. Hats off to England and Stokes for the way they have fought."

Anand: "To be fair to England, take Anderson out and ratio doesnt look so clean..." This is true. Root, Stokes and Bairstow also have more than 300 caps between them. Hartley and Bashir redress the balance a touch.

Rajesh: "The young guys have matured overnight.....what a spirit!!!"

nikhil: "So lets move on to presentations, who is your pick for MOM. In an ideal world, both Jurel and Kuldeep deserves it" Yes indeed, Kuldeep's innings was crucial too. But it's Jurel all the way for me

Everyone's up again. The glory shot is on

Navneet : "Hey Miller, still England can pull this off?" You know what, I'm going to say... no

The field is in close now, still a slip and short leg

Vasu: "Every time I go to do my work, India's losing a couple of wickets. Common guys wrap it up. I've got patients waiting out there." Hope you're not in A&E!

regalalien: "Are we still in "Stranger things have happened" territory? What does Ravi Shastri think?" Not sure many stranger things have happened, to be fair. Think we're out the other side now

Just a slip for Hartley

Sriram: "How about Shoaib Bashir for a great find. Brilliant bowling irrespective of the outcome." Too right, his control and composure has been immense

Nitish: "Batting over a 100 balls and scoring important runs in a chase without hitting a boundary...nice anti-thesis to Bazball. "

Leg gully moves to short leg