"Anything else would have been a travesty"- Former England captain gives his verdict on ENG vs IND 2025 Test series

Former England captain Michael Atherton believes that any other scoreline other than a draw in the England versus India five-Test series would have been a travesty. The 57-year-old admitted that the tourists won more sessions than the hosts in the series. He added that it did not reflect due to the former's massive win in the Edgbaston Test.

Atherton stated how India had both the highest run-scorer in Shubman Gill and the highest wicket-taker in Mohammed Siraj after the five Tests. He wrote for The Times:

"India deserved their draw; anything else would have been a travesty. They won more sessions over the five matches, a discrepancy skewed by the margin of victory at Edgbaston. They had the leading run-scorer, Gill, and the leading wicket-taker, Siraj. There were four Indian batsmen in the top six run-scorers — KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant and Gill — and four wicket-takers — Jasprit Bumrah, Deep, Krishna and Siraj — in the top six wicket-takers."

The 25-year-old finished the series with 754 runs in 10 innings at an average of 75.40 in his first series as a captain. Meanwhile, the 31-year-old pacer took 23 wickets in five Tests, which included a match haul of 9/190 in the fifth and final Test at The Oval.

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Michael Atherton feels England should be disappointed with the series result against India

Former England captain Michael Atherton felt that England should look back with the 2-2 scoreline against India with disappointment. He felt that the hosts should have drawn the Test match at Edgbaston and won the series finale at The Oval.

"In their final series before the Ashes, England will be disappointed to have not put away a team in transition. They had their chances: they ought to have been able to see out a draw at Edgbaston, on the flattest pitch in the series, and they had this match in the palm of their hands when Joe Root and Brook were going so well. They will need to improve to win in Australia," he wrote.

England missed the services of regular captain Ben Stokes for the fifth and final Test against India at The Oval. He now faces another challenge to play all five Test matches when England go Down Under later in the year to face Australia in the Ashes.