England captain Ben Stokes after India’s win within the fourth Test in Ranchi on February 26, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Gareth Copley
England captain Ben Stokes mentioned that the best way India bowled in its second innings determined the course of the match.
“Cricket is always skill against skill,” the 32-year-old acknowledged. “Ashwin, [Ravindra] Jadeja and Kuldeep [Yadav] and the conditions we found ourselves in against them was very, very challenging. You’ve got to give them credit for the way they bowled in very favourable conditions. Their skill was better than ours.”
But Stokes felt 192 was nonetheless a defendable goal.
“The wicket changed so much throughout every single day. It went through periods in the morning where it settled down. But as the sun came and it was hotter, it did more. We took wickets in clusters, and even with 30 runs left we knew that if we went bang bang, all the pressure was back on India.
“I’m proud of how everyone stuck to their tasks even if their roles were to just be fielders. That’s what I want from everyone, to never give up, because you never know where a game is going to go.”
Now that England has misplaced the collection, its first beneath Brendon McCullum and Stokes, there will likely be some scrutiny over match methods. But Stokes was emphatic in his protection of England’s strategies.
“You can have it all taken away from you at the click of a finger, so why not enjoy every opportunity and make sure you are doing it with a smile on your face? It is a very short career so why not make it as enjoyable as you can?
“You can either put way too much pressure on yourself because you’re at the highest level, or you can look at it as a very rare opportunity in terms of how many professional cricketers there are in the world, and you get to represent my country. So why not try to enjoy it as much you can?”
