England captain Ben Stokes praised India’s skill after his team suffered a five-wicket defeat in Ranchi, giving India an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series. Stokes, despite the loss, refused to criticize his team’s batting effort, especially in the challenging conditions of the second innings.
Stokes highlighted the difficulty of scoring against India’s spin trio of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Kuldeep Yadav, who shared all ten wickets in England’s second innings. He said, “When you look at it like that, skill vs skill their skill was better than ours on this occasion.” He praised India’s bowlers for making scoring and rotating the strike challenging for England.
Despite the defeat, Stokes found positives in England’s performance, particularly in the efforts of young spinners Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir. He commented, “To come out and put in that performance throughout the whole Test match, but in particular today, being exposed in situations like that at such an early start of their career, I mean, incredible.” Bashir, playing only his second Test, claimed his first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket and finished with match figures of 8 for 198. Hartley, on the other hand, picked up 4 for 138 and became the leading wicket-taker for the series.
Stokes commended the character and determination of his spinners, highlighting their courage in a challenging situation. He emphasized his approach as captain, allowing young players the freedom to perform without feeling overwhelmed by the occasion. He said, “That’s the way I am as a person. That’s who I am as a captain. It’s allowing these young guys to come into a pretty intimidating situation, Test cricket against India, who are an incredibly hard team to come out here and play against and, you know, just allowing them the freedom to run up and treat every ball as an occasion rather than thinking about something that’s already happening and can’t be changed.”
Looking ahead, Stokes expressed optimism for the future of Test cricket, praising the talent displayed by young and inexperienced players on both sides. He said, “I think so far this series, not only has that brought out a lot of talent not only for us, but also for India. I’m a massive cricket fan, I love Test cricket. And I think on both sides, we’ve seen some young, inexperienced players come out and I think the future is great for Test cricket.”
Despite the series loss, Stokes remained proud of his team’s effort and performance, highlighting the competitive nature of the series and the promising talent on display. He said, “You come into series and obviously want to win, you want to win games of cricket. But you know, I’ve been here for two years and my message is consistent. It’s about the input that everyone gives to the team. If you 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, every Test match here has thrown absolutely everything they can out in the field. Nothing has ever been left out on that field. And that’s all we ask of our players.”
The defeat in Ranchi marked England’s third consecutive loss in the series, following their initial 1-0 lead. However, Stokes remained proud of his team’s effort and performance, highlighting the competitive nature of the series and the promising talent on display.
The series now moves to its final Test in Dharamsala, where England will look to salvage some pride, while India aims to secure a comprehensive series win.
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