Ben Stokes on Dharamsala floor

Tags: England tour of India 2024,
India vs England, fifth Take a look at at Dharamsala, Mar 07-11, 2024,
India,
England,
Benjamin Andrew Stokes

Printed on: Mar 07, 2024

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England captain Ben Stokes described the Dharamsala pitch for the fifth Take a look at in opposition to India as an absolute belter. He stated that after trying on the floor they determined to go in with two seamers and two spinners for the sport.

As they’ve performed so typically lately, England named their enjoying XI for the Dharamsala Take a look at a day forward of the sport. The guests made one change to their group – quick bowler Mark Wooden changing Ollie Robinson.

Talking a pre-match press convention, Stokes defined that they took a call on the enjoying XI based mostly on the floor on supply. Dharamsala is colder than different instances at this level of the yr. Nevertheless, with no grass on the floor, the batters may get pleasure from themselves.

“Earlier than we even obtained right here, we had been in all probability pondering it was going to be a 3 seamer one spinner assault however then once we noticed the wicket after which noticed it once more at this time, I feel going with two seamers and two spinners might be the appropriate name,” Stokes stated.

“We felt there would in all probability a bit extra grass on the wicket simply due to the place we’re however total the wicket appears to be like an absolute belter. So enjoying two seamers and nonetheless having Bash (Shoaib Bashir) and Tom (Hartley) provides us a great combination if you end up a bit of bit uncertain of what it is going to do because the Take a look at goes on,” he elaborated.

Following their defeat within the fourth Take a look at in Ranchi, England suffered their first sequence defeat within the ‘Bazball’ period [Stokes as captain and Brendon McCullum as coach]. Stokes, nevertheless, asserted that trying past the rating line they’ve undoubtedly made progress within the sequence.

“At 3-1, you suppose it is not been a hit however I take a look at it with fully completely different angles to that and I feel we have now undoubtedly progressed as a group despite the fact that we’ve not obtained the outcomes we needed. , 3-2 sounds higher than 3-1 or 4-1 and that is clearly what we need to do,” the England captain stated.

“It isn’t labored out that manner by way of outcomes however we have now obtained one final push right here which is nice on the finish of a protracted tour while you play 5 video games. It is an amazing floor to do it at and a whole lot of Barmy Military are coming in to assist us this week. So, very excited,” the cricketer additional commented.

The England captain additionally candidly admitted that barring the primary Take a look at in Hyderabad, which the guests gained, India have performed higher within the crunch moments and therefore the outcomes have gone their manner.

“The factor I look again on is when the sport has been within the stability, India have been higher than us in these moments on multiple event,” he stated.

The Dharamsala match will mark the a centesimal Take a look at for each Ravichandran Ashwin and Jonny Bairstow.

–By A Cricket Correspondent