Leeds, June 25: Notwithstanding the top-order heroics, England captain Ben Stokes has credited his bowlers’ ruthless dismantling of India’s lower-order, twice in the match, as a “pivotal factor” in their five-wicket win at Headingley.
While openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley earned praise for their 188-run stand in a record fourth-innings chase of 371, Stokes stressed that the match had swung much earlier when England’s bowlers prevented India from posting a total that might have been unchaseable.
“It was obviously a very good wicket for batting on, the high scores have shown that,” Stokes said at the post-match media interaction.
“But some other pivotal moments in the game, obviously there will be people who get the headlines here, but the way in which we were able to knock the Indian tail over very quickly on two occasions was also a massive reason to why we were able to restrict them to a score that we definitely felt comfortable to be able to chase…
“…we didn’t allow it to get above 450-500, which India could easily have done. I think as well as skill, there’s been a huge contribution of our attitude and commitment to what we needed to do every single day and every single session,” the English skipper said.
India appeared in complete control through large passages of the match, headlined by five individual centuries across both innings.
But a sudden collapse saw them lose their last six wickets for 41 runs, folding for 471 in the first innings. The pattern repeated itself in the second innings with the last six wickets falling for 34 runs.
“Chasing 370 (371) like we were, you always want to get off to a good start. The least amount of wickets that you lose early on is obviously crucial, but the way he (Duckett) went about it with Zak and then played the game at the top of that order for us was huge in particular,” said Stokes.
This chase marked the sixth time under the Stokes-Brendon McCullum leadership that England had hauled in targets of 250 or more in the fourth innings.
Stokes attributed the team’s consistency in such high-pressure pursuits to a shared philosophy of keeping things “simple and calm.” (PTI)
