Ben Stokes: 'All I'm thinking about as a captain is winning this series 3-2'

England captain Ben Stokes remained confident in his team’s ability to turn things around despite suffering a humiliating 434-run defeat against India in Rajkot on Sunday.

The visitors, who produced a stunning turnaround to win the Hyderabad Test by 28 runs before going down by 106 runs in Visakhapatnam, were bowled out for a paltry 122 after being set a near-impossible 557 to win.

India had earlier recovered from 33/3 to post a sizeable first innings total of 445, and managed to bowl England out for 319 to collect a 126-run first innings lead. Yashasvi Jaiswal would then lead the way in the second innings with an unbeaten 214, his second double-ton in as many Tests, to help the home team declare on 430/4.

Despite getting outplayed at Rajkot’s recently-renamed Niranjan Shah Stadium, Stokes was confident his team could win the remaining Tests in Ranchi and Dharamsala and take the series 3-2 from here.

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“I spoke before I came out here and said weeks like this are hard. Losing games for England isn’t where you want to be but games personally, I think (are) won or lost in the head,” Stokes told the media during the post-match press conference.

“I just made sure that all the emotion, all the disappointment there would be in that dressing room now, make sure it stays here. We’ve got two games left and all I’m thinking about as a captain is winning this series 3-2,” he said.

Stokes said England’s approach to Test cricket will not be tampered with despite two consecutive heavy defeats.

“No, not at all. Our batting line-up is full of international-class players. We give them the freedom to play what’s in front of them. You can see the difference in the two teams’ approaches playing out in India,” Stokes said.

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“The last two games, India have put runs on the board, the way they want to operate. We have been able to do it at times, but have not been able to sustain it for as long as we’ve wanted to,” he added.

The premier all-rounder said the umpire’s call on DRS is something that should be done away with, after England opener Zak Crawley fell leg-before against Jasprit Bumrah with the ball appearing to be grazing the leg-stump.

Stokes and England head coach Brendon McCullum even had a chat about it with match referee Jeff Crowe.

“We just wanted some clarity around Zak’s DRS when the images came back. The ball is quite clearly missing the stump on the replay. When it gets given to the umpire’s ball and the ball’s not actually hitting the stumps, we were a bit bemused,” he said.

“We just wanted some clarity from the Hawkeye guys. It came back saying the numbers, or whatever it is, it was saying that it was hitting the stumps but it was the projection that was wrong.

“I don’t know what that means. Something’s gone wrong it’s not me blaming that on what’s happened here, like I didn’t last week. It’s just what’s going on?” Stokes said.

The Durham man said the dismissal of Joe Root on the third day morning, a reverse ramp shot off Bumrah which went straight to Yashasvi Jaiswal at second slip was the turning point in the game.

“Because he got out to it, definitely (it) was a turning point. Joe Root has scored nearly 12,000 runs, we can leave the decision-making and why’ with Joe,” Stokes said.

“I can understand why there would be frustration around that because of how good a player Joe is.
Jasprit Bumrah has got him out a couple of times this tour early on. And I thought Joe was looking really, really good at the crease, and he sensed that as a time to put something different back onto Jasprit and make him maybe think about something,” Stokes said.

Stokes said he did not feel like he was the right man to question Root about the choice of the shot.

“Because what that shot does for Joe is it makes fields change, makes bowlers’ mindset change towards him. He got out to it, and it’s not a shot you necessarily see Test match players playing.

“But look, who am I to question a guy who has 30 Test match hundreds, nearly 12,000 Test match runs? I think he knows what he’s doing,” Stokes added.

Stokes said he enjoys watching good players and India’s Jaiswal, who has scored 545 runs in three Tests so far, has had a fantastic start’ to his career.

“He has been a great player to watch. I enjoy watching good players play even if it is against me. Early on he took his time and when he sensed his opportunity to go out, he did. He has had a fantastic start to his career,” Stokes said.

With PTI inputs