Birmingham, Aug 16: Losing to England by an innings and 242 runs in the third Test at Edgbaston, India had to relinquish the top position in the ICC Test cricket ratings to their hosts as well.

In an exclusive interview with www.bcci.tv, Ravi Shastri analysed the third Test match and India’s shortcomings in the series.

Excerpts from the interview:

Do you think England are fitting claimants to the No. 1 Test spot?

Yes, [they] fully deserve it. The way they played against Australia in Australia and the way they have thrashed India here, there is absolutely no doubt in anyone’s mind that they deserve to be the No. 1 team in the world.

How would you compare England’s pace attack to some of the great bowling attacks of the past?

This is one of the best attacks we have seen in recent times; definitely one of the best English attacks in the last 20-30 years. Going back to the [Ian] Botham and [Bob] Willis pair together, even then they didn’t have three-plus bowlers [playing] as well [as they did here]. So I would say this is one of the best English attacks in a long time, and in English conditions in particular they were quite superb.

Do you feel this is the end of a glorious run for India in Test cricket or just a one-off bad series?

I wouldn’t say one-off. India will still continue to be very strong at home but when they travel overseas, they’ve got to have the vision now to groom some young talent, both in the batting as well as the bowling department, so that they can stay in the top four for some length of time. Then, as and when those youngsters gain in experience, you can again push for the top spot. It’s not going to be easy, but this team will bounce back. But to regain the No. 1 spot will take some time.

MS Dhoni’s return to form was the only silver lining in the second innings for India.

Yes, the problem is India have not scored 300 runs. This batting line-up, with the experience it has, the quality of players it has, that is really surprising. I thought India blew a great chance in this Test match, especially in the first innings. They had their moments in the series but they have not seized [them]. 124 for seven [wickets] in Nottingham - we should have got a sizeable lead against England. Even here, even though they were put in to bat, I thought that the first innings batting performance was pretty ordinary. You also want to praise the English bowlers; [plus] some of the shots played in that first innings were loose. [On] this track, [if] India had got 350-370 [runs] in the first innings it could have been a totally different story because there was turn there; the bounce got uneven and England would have had to bat fourth on this pitch.