'Wanted them to get to 450 to see what we'd do' - Ben Stokes after historic win against India

Chasing 378 for victory, England won the rescheduled fifth Test match against India by seven wickets. This was England’s highest successful run chase in Tests which helped them to draw level the series 2-2. The winning team skipper Ben Stokes, after their record chase, confessed that some part of him wanted a target of 450 to see what the team would do.

Stokes said that when there is clarity on what the team has to achieve, it makes things easier, adding that he knew the team was going for the chase from the “get-go”. He quoted his teammate Jack Leach that other teams might be better than them but are not braver than England. “The change, you know, you’re talking about mindset and everything like that, but when you’ve got real clarity in what you want to achieve as a team and how you want to play it makes things a lot easier,” Stokes was quoted as saying by mirror.co.uk.

378 five or six weeks ago would have been scary, but nah, it was good: Stokes

“We know what we were going to do – we knew we were always going to go out and try and chase that down from the get-go. A great way to explain is that teams are perhaps better than us, but teams won’t be braver than us. Jack Leach said that to me about two minutes ago and it is a great way to sum things up at the moment,” added the England Test captain. 

Even against New Zealand last month, England successfully chased competitive totals of 277, 299 and 296, to complete a 3-0 whitewash. That was also the first assignment for Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes as full-time head coach and captain, respectively.

“When you have clarity like we do at the moment in the dressing room, it makes totals like that – and just the game in itself – a lot easier,” said the 31-year-old. “The external pressure that playing international cricket gives you…378 five or six weeks ago would have been scary, but nah, it was good. There was a bit of me that almost wanted them to get to 450 to see what we’d do!,” he further said.  Meanwhile. the two teams will now face off for three T20Is and three ODIs, starting from Thursday.