Former England captain Nasser Hussain has rued the fact that England are placed 8th in the World Test Championship points table. England have won three out of their 9 Test matches, lost 5, and drawn 1. The Ben Stokes side’s high-risk high-reward cricket has seen its advantages and disadvantages of result-oriented Test cricket.

England have won 2 and lost 2 and drawn 1 Test against Australia, while they have won 1 and lost three against India so far. The team has a win percentage of just 19.44 in the ongoing WTC cycle and are tottering below the likes of Pakistan, West Indies and South Africa.

Hussain, in his column at the Daily Mail has questioned the balance between entertainment and results, ahead of the team’s final Test match against India in Dharamsala.

“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,” Hussain has written in his column.

England set the stage abuzz with their innovative approach in Hyderabad in the first Test match, but have failed to win big moments in the last three Test matches. There were several instances where England were poised to take lead in the Test matches against India, but the team failed to capitalise on those moments.

“This England side have provided great viewing over the past two years, 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,” Hussain said.

“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,” he further added.

India currently lead the WTC points table with 5 wins in 8 matches. The Rohit Sharma side is followed by New Zealand and Australia in the second and the third place.