England skipper Ben Stokes expressed pride in how his team has performed, despite it crashing to a first-ever series defeat under his captaincy, against India at the JSCA Stadium here on Monday.
“You come into [the] series and [you] obviously want to win. 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.
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“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,” said Stokes after India secured a hard-fought five-wicket win.
On a crack-ridden track in Ranchi, England opted for two lanky spinners – Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir – who had a combined Test experience of four games going into the match.
But the pair impressed, often putting the Indian batting lineup under pressure with long controlled spells.
“We have had some inexperienced spinners. But I’m proud of their efforts, they came here without a lot of exposure and the way they kept bowling, I can’t ask for anything more,” said Stokes.
“Part of my captaincy is allowing the young guys to revel and the freedom to play in some difficult and intimidating conditions in India. I am a massive Test cricket fan, the numbers of youngsters coming along in both teams set things up nicely for the future of Test cricket,” added Stokes.
The English skipper also had a special word for the 20-year-old Bashir, whose first-innings fifer made him the second-youngest English spinner to achieve the feat. “Bashir, wow. What a story, what a journey. Coming here, taking eight wickets in the game, his first five-wicket haul as a professional - in a Test match in India. The sky is the limit for that guy. I’m very, very proud of him.”
England’s chances of levelling the series here in Ranchi were severely damaged by a weak outing with the bat in the second innings. The English batters were put under the pump by a relentless Indian spin bowling unit as they were bundled out 145 in just over 50 overs.
“That was incredibly hard yesterday. When you look at [Ravichandran] Ashwin, Jadeja and Kuldeep [Yadav] and conditions are in their favour like that, that’s very tough for any team to go out and keep the scoreboard ticking and rotate the strike. Skill-vs-skill, their skill was better than ours on this occasion,” said Stokes in defence of his batters.
“Cricket is a game of skill against skill, isn’t it? When you look at it like that, skill v skill their skill was better than ours on this occasion,” added the English captain.
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