Every game some Indian batsman got a big score, rues Ben Stokes

England were on top in the first two days of the final Test at Chennai. However, a fighting 199 from KL Rahul on the third day got the hosts back in the game. No wonder why English all-rounder Ben Stokes is a disappointed man at the end of the day. Reflecting back at the proceedings in a press conference, the all-rounder said it was nice to get the wicket of Virat Kohli early on in the innings.

However, he rued the fact that the other batsmen got into the groove at the end of the day. He rightly cited that this has been the story of the series thus far. Some or the other India batsman has scored big in every innings.

“In every game, someone (from the Indian team) has gone on to get a big score. It’s nice to see the back of Kohli but yes unfortunately someone else obviously ends up getting a big score,” quoted Ben Stokes. He admitted that the Indian team played exceptionally well on the day. Despite all their efforts, England could not break the partnership.

“I think we tried a lot but sometimes you are going to hold your hands up and say the partnership that they had throughout the day, they played really well,” remarked the English all-rounder.

However, he maintained that the English bowlers did not get their due rewards for the properly executed plans. Barring the early Virat Kohli dismissal, nothing else seemed to go their way.

“The things that we tried to do, maybe we didn’t get the rewards that we deserved. Broad getting Kohli with a good bit of plan bowling, changing the angle that came round and up the wicket with the change ups. We can say that we didn’t get the rewards for our efforts,” added Ben Stokes.

Stokes is one of the key reverse swing components in the current England set up. He was disappointed at the fact that there was no reverse swing on offer on the day 3 with the ball.

“I think that’s probably been the most surprising thing. We have kept the ball in really really good condition but it really gets soft easily here compared to the Kookaburra we used in Bangladesh, where we managed to get (reverse swing) quite a lot,” cited Stokes.

The all-rounder made it clear that they do not want to head back without a win to their name. They want to get a win under their belt and are keen on getting a result in the match.

“Definitely, we don’t want to go away 4-0 or 3-0. We want to walk away with a win and go away with our heads held high. That all depends on how tomorrow goes, if we can get out there and run through them in a session. Go out and get some runs and put them under pressure,” said Stokes.

Talking about KL Rahul getting dismissed on 199, stokes said, “I don’t think I have ever played a game where someone has got out (for 199). He played well but at the end we took his wicket. Credit to him, he played really well.”