What good is entertainment if you sit at No. 8 in WTC points table: Nasser Hussain unimpressed with England

Former England captain-turned-commentator Nasser Hussain has slammed Ben Stokes & Co. for conceding an unassailable 3-1 lead to hosts India in the ongoing five-match Test series.England, under Stokes, have been competitive against Rohit Sharma & Co., however, they missed their chances of winning big moments, with many former cricketers and experts blaming their Bazball approach.

England won the first Test, in Hyderabad, but lost the following three games despite having a chance to win them all.In the current ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 cycle, they have inspired many with their entertaining approach, known as Bazball, but have not won a lot. Stokes-led side have emerged on top only thrice and have lost five games. Thus, they arelanguishing at the eighth spot in the WTC standings, with a win percentage of19.44, and are belowthe likes of Pakistan, West Indies and South Africa.

'Results remain the most important currency'

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Thus, Hussain slammed England and wrote in his column, "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."

He further opined, "This England side have provided great viewing over the past two years (since the Bazball era), 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."

"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," Hussainadded.

England are gearing up for the fifth and final Test versus India, in Dharamsala, which gets underway on Thursday (March 7). They will aim to finish off on a high with a 2-3 scoreline.