England Test captain Ben Stokes, who missed the fifth Test due to a shoulder Injury, said that finishing on the losing side at The Oval was bitterly disappointing after India snatched a nail-biting six-run win on the final day to level the five-match Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2-2. England’s Ben Stokes, the skipper who sat out of the fifth and final Test owing to injury, called the 2-2 result a fair reflection in a series where fortunes kept fluctuating right till the very end.
England needed 35 runs with four wickets in hand to win the match and series on the final day of the encounter at The Oval. However, India’s fightback on Monday was led by pacers Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna. Siraj finished with a five-wicket haul while Krishna bagged four wickets to take the side over the line in an edge-of-the-seat thriller.
The Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy has been one of the more talked about Test series in recent memory with India and England players getting into quite a lot of on-field as well as off-field confrontations. India captain Shubman Gill’s bust up with Zak Crawley at Lord’s, Mohammed Siraj’s run-in with Ben Duckett and Gautam Gambhir’s angry exchange with the Oval curator are only some of the several flare-ups that have come to characterize this current series.
England captain Ben Stokes, however, said that such incidents often happen in an intense series and once the match is over, the players let bygones be bygones.
Another hard-fought game- Ben Stokes
England captain Ben Stokes expressed his disappointment over his non-participation in the final match of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, which India won by 6 runs to draw the series 2-2.
With four wickets in hand and 35 runs to get, England held the edge before the start of play, but Siraj made life hell for the opposition batters from ball one. In the end, his effort, complemented quite well by Prasidh Krishna at the other end, left England short by the tiniest of margins and allowed India to sign off 2-2 in the high-pressure five-match series.
Ben Stokes had to miss out on the final due to a shoulder injury that prompted the hosts to make four changes in the line-up. Ollie Pope stepped into the captain’s shoes, but his team couldn’t avoid the defeat.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Ben Stokes said,
“It’s obviously always difficult when you can’t participate in the game. Another hard-fought game, down to Day 5, both teams have put in so much energy and effort into it. Bitterly disappointed we couldn’t get over the line. But proud of my team with everything they’ve put in. Disappointed we couldn’t get the series win.”
The English Test captain Ben Stokes heaped massive praise on his teammate Chris Woakes for showing courage when it was needed the most. The right-arm quick suffered a shoulder injury while fielding on the first day of the Test. He didn’t take part in the game thereafter but walked out to bat with his right hand strapped on the final day.
“When it got to the situation it did, there was no question in Woakesy’s (Chris Woakes) mind (about batting). He spent yesterday thinking about which way around he was going to bat. We’ve got guys who’ve gone out there and played with broken fingers and broken feet. It shows how much it means to these players to play for their countries,” Ben Stokes said.
The England captain Ben Stokes concluded by praising the efforts put in by both teams in what turned out to be a scintillating Test series.
“I’m very proud of what the players have done, and I’m sure Shubman is too. India-England is always a big series; you get so much emotion. We won’t be going to our bed crying about what was said (on the field), and neither would the Indian players; it’s all part of the passion. Worked incredibly hard to be able to go out there and fulfil my role as an all-rounder. Disappointed, I had to miss out on this game,” Ben Stokes said.
Ben Stokes, who is nursing a shoulder injury, is gearing up for the Ashes series against Australia later this year.
“Disappointed I had to miss out on this game. Time to rehab and wait for the big one now (The Ashes). When one of your bowlers goes down so early in the game, everyone else’s role changes. The heart and the desire the big fellows kept showing in that second innings was tremendous.
“All we ask from the guys is for them to leave everything out on the field. Not ideal when one of your bowlers goes down, but it was a tremendous effort from our three fast bowlers,” Ben Stokes concluded.
On Monday, India pulled off an incredible six-run victory over England in the seesawing fifth and final Test to secure a creditable 2-2 draw in a blockbuster series which ebbed and flowed over weeks of slugfest between the two cricketing powerhouses.
The tireless Mohammed Siraj (5/104) emerged as the team’s biggest hero with one of his finest bowling efforts. He finished the series with 23 wickets, the highest across both teams. Set a record target of 374, England were placed at 339 for six when bad light and torrential rain forced an early stumps on the fourth evening. India picked up the remaining four wickets in quick time, as England’s second innings ended at 367 in 85.1 overs. Siraj and Prasidh Krishna (4/126) sizzled with the ball when their team needed them the most.
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