Former England captain, Michael Vaughan raised questions if the England team management backed the players way too much under the captaincy of Ben Stokes. He added that it’s important for the players to face the pressure of selection and perform well in the 5th Test match against India in Dharamshala. However, England trail the 5-match Test series 1-3 against India as well, and they will look to bounce back in the final Test on March 7 in Dharamshala.

“I do wonder, though, if this England setup takes backing a bit too far. Since Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum took over, only one batsman has been dropped, and even that was the tamest, dropping you will ever see.England inherited Alex Lees from the previous regime and gave him a crack, but always had their eye on Ben Duckett to open with Zak Crawley so simply moved Lees on at the end of their first summer,” Michael Vaughan said in his column with The Telegraph.

However, England didn’t make a lot of changes in their batting unit and rotated their bowlers according to the conditions and the needs of the game in the Test series as well. whereas Jonny Bairstow, Ben Foakes and Zak Crawley haven’t been able to leave a mark with their batting yet but they have been given consistent chances so far in the series as well.

“Ultimately, on any sporting team’s road to greatness, you need a moment, a rod, where every player realises ‘Wow, maybe I’m not part of the furniture’. As soon as people think they are part of the furniture it creates a bit of comfortable complacency, which can be damaging. Overall, as a batting unit England have seemed in need of a reminder that Test cricket is a two-innings game. They have consistently been batting well in one, then screwing up the other. Ultimately, the game is about winning and England are struggling to do that against the very best sides. This week, with some extra pressure on selection, they would do well to remember that,” Michael Vaughan concluded.