Ben Stokes, England captain, said that the whole team had the belief that they could chase down the huge 399-run target on day four. England had resumed their batting on 67/1 but were bundled for 292 runs. England lost the second Test in Vizag by 106 runs and India leveled the five-match series 1-1.
Zak Crawley was England's standout batter in both innings, scoring 149 runs, while the majority of the other batters failed to convert starts. The spinners, meanwhile, were effective throughout the Test, with Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir, and Rehan Ahmed taking 15 of the 20 Indian wickets.
"Coming into this last innings we had full belief in ourselves that we could go and chase that down. How we go about taking on challenges like that is what we're about and the number of runs that we needed to get was just sort of another thing for us to try and try and chase down,” Stokes said at post-match presentation on JioCinema.
"In moments like that, in games when you've got scoreboard pressure, a lot of runs to chase down, that's where your process and how we know that we get the best out of ourselves as individuals, that comes out. And I thought how we applied ourselves and tried to put India's bowling attack under a lot of pressure was great. Unfortunately, we didn't end up on the right side of the result. Congrats to India, I thought they played a fantastic game and, again, another great game to be a part of.
There's no suggestion whatsoever about how to go out and play, it's go out and play how you best feel at a given time. We knew the task ahead… and everyone in that dressing room there is a quality player and they are good enough to be able to go out there, assess the conditions or the situation, and also assess how they're feeling and how they best feel to go about getting those runs,” Stokes added.
Stokes was also full of praise for his trio of young spinners, Hartley, Shoaib Bashir, and Rehan Ahmed. James Anderson, the vastly experienced seamer, took the other two as part of his haul of five wickets for the match.
"Looking at Tom, Bash, and Rehan - five or six Test matches between them - to put in the performance that they did yesterday, obviously without Joe, and Jimmy having bowled a very long spell on Saturday, I thought what they were able to produce in terms of effort and output was incredible. They showed a lot of maturity, a lot of skill beyond their years and experience and it's something I'm very proud of as a captain,” Stokes told TNT.
Stokes lauded Zak Crawley and said that he exemplified his team's approach to the fourth innings.
"That period last night when your openers have to go out, it's one of those, what do you do? But I think when you have that real clarity, you're able to see what they did last night. We could have easily been 20 for none, and not lost a wicket, but the game's not really gone anywhere. Yes, we lost Duckett at the end of the day, but we've knocked 60 runs off and that's a huge deficit when you come to a new day.
But Zak, he started again this morning, he sensed the threat in Bumrah early on, and then when the spin came on, he looked to assert his dominance a bit more. But a great game for him with the bat, especially considering he's someone who's not been exposed to conditions like these for the most part of his career. Very happy for him and I think it's a great stepping stone for him,” Stokes added.
The third Test will be played in Rajkot from February 15 onwards.
