Hours after the series victory on Saturday, Rohit Sharma took to social media for a cheeky post, dedicating it to India’s next generation of superstars.

The India captain shared a photo with Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill and Sarfaraz Khan on Instagram and captioned it: “Garden mein ghoomne wale bande”, (the gang who roam around in the garden).

Rohit’s witty one-liner had been picked up by the stump microphone during one of the Test matches where he cautioned the players to stay alert on the field after being left disappointed by their effort.

The young guns’ scintillating performances earned the team a 4-1 win in the absence of regulars like Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Mohammed Shami. The inexperienced batting line-up showed character and application forcing Ben Stokes to admit being “outplayed by the better team”.

Five players — Rajat Patidar, Jurel, Sarfaraz, Akash Deep and Devdutt Padikkal — made their debut during the course of the series. While Patidar struggled, the others displayed their talent and resilience to come up with match-winning performances.

Rohit revealed how the team management gave them a sense of assurance, making them feel relaxed about their place in the team throughout the series. “All of these guys are extremely talented. All they needed was a little bit of assurance and a platform. We didn’t want to keep putting pressure on them. We wanted to make sure our job at the start of the series was to give them the comfort, and assurance that they’re going to play all five Test matches.

“Because we may not accept it, but it is a fact that it plays in everyone’s mind, ‘okay, if I don’t get it right in a couple of Test matches, I may get dropped’. The insecurity always creeps in,” said the India captain.

Head coach Rahul Dravid had also acknowledged their effort. “It was really good to see them step up. And all of them, in their own way, put in performances, played a part for this team, which was really heartening to see,” Dravid said after the innings win.

“I would like to give credit to Ajit (Agarkar) and his team as well... Sometimes they don’t get the credit they deserve as selectors but I would really like to acknowledge their contributions as well.

“And also the importance of ‘A’ tours. All of these guys were just recently playing an ‘A’ tour against England. That really helped us also to see which are the guys performing and doing well currently.”

Even in the final Test, Sarfaraz and Padikkal found themselves in a tricky situation when England’s bowlers put the inexperienced batting to a tough test. But they thwarted any real chance of an England comeback stitching together a 97-run partnership.

There were moments when Stokes and Jimmy Anderson threatened to run through the batting after lunch on the second day but they held on with conviction. They enjoyed their share of luck but by the time the two seniors finished their spells, India had battled to safety.

While Padikkal had been cautious, Sarfaraz brought out his attacking game against the spinners and Mark Wood. A ramp shot which sailed over the slip cordon and a ferocious hook against the pacer will be talked about for long.

While Player of the Series Jaiswal aggregated a record 712 runs, Jurel’s 90 in Ranchi and his partnership with Kuldeep Yadav in the first innings were equally significant. The manner in which they made things look simple and routine showed that the next generation is there to take up the cudgels.

Jaiswal provided an apt answer to England’s Bazball tactics with 26 sixes and 68 boundaries in the series. “I was always thinking to play my shots, if I think I can score runs, I will take it on,” the opener said at the prize distribution on Saturday.

Dravid summed it up well. “We’ve always found people to step up...”