Ben Stokes admits the India spinners were almost 'impossible' for his England team to face during the fourth Test in Ranchi.
However, the captain has issued a defiant message that he has full belief in the approach his side adopted despite the hosts taking an unassailable 3-1 series lead.
India chased down their modest 192 target on day four, with Shubman Gil and Dhruv Jurel seeing them home by five wickets.
England had hope when the impressive Shoaib Bashir picked up two wickets in an over to reduce Rohit Sharma's team to 120-5.
Ben Stokes has spoken on the difficulties his England team faced against India
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The tourists will leave rueing their batting effort in the second innings on day three, where they lost their last seven wickets for 35 runs to be bowled out for 145.
Ravi Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav spun a web, picking up nine wickets between them, while Ravi Jadeja chipped in with the other.
Stokes admits that was the crucial period in the match and outlined how difficult the England batters found it.
He said: "We've been good in periods, yesterday with the bat, I don't want to say impossible because I don't think anything is impossible, but that was incredibly hard yesterday.
"When you get conditions against Ashwin, Jadeja and Kuldeep like that, scoring becomes very hard, especially when you want to eek the game out as much as you wanted to do.
"We didn't think the pitch would get any better and we've seen that today.
"The way in which the Indian spinners bowled yesterday made it incredibly hard for us to score but also rotate the strike.
"So that little period there was very, very tough for us."
In a separate interview with TNT Sports, Stokes conceded that India outskilled his team.
He said: "Cricket's game of skill against skill isn't it and I think yesterday when it was our turn to bat, those conditions were very, very tough to bat against.
"Especially when you look at Jadeja, Ashwin and Kuldeep, when the conditions are in their favour like that it's going to be very, very tough for any team to go out and not only look to keep the scoreboard ticking but also rotating the strike.
"When you look at it like that, skill v skill, their skill was better than ours on this occasion yesterday."
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England have lost three matches in a row for the first time under Ben Stokes
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Stokes' methods will be questioned after losing three Tests in a row for the first time since he became captain.
But the 32-year-old will not be changing the message he sends to his players and is delighted with the attitude they have shown.
Stokes said: "You come into series and you want to win, you want to win games of cricket.
"I've been here for two years and my message is constantly consistent. It's about the input that everyone gives to the team.
Shubman Gil and Dhruv Jurel led India to victory over England in Ranchi
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"If we worry too much about the output I think we're not committing as much as we can do as individuals and as a team.
"Everyone in every Test match here has thrown absolutely everything they can out on the field, nothing has ever been left out on that field and that's all I can ask from my players."
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