leeds: Notwithstanding the top-order heroics, England captain Ben Stokes has credited his bowlers’ ruthless dismantling of India’s lower-order, twice in the match, as a “pivotal factor” in their five-wicket win at Headingley.
While openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley earned praise for their 188-run stand in a record fourth-innings chase of 371, Stokes stressed that the match had swung much earlier when England’s bowlers prevented India from posting a total that might have been unchaseable.
“It was obviously a very good wicket for batting on, the high scores have shown that,” Stokes said at the post-match media interaction.
“But some other pivotal moments in the game, obviously there will be people who get the headlines here, but the way in which we were able to knock the Indian tail over very quickly on two occasions was also a massive reason to why we were able to restrict them to a score that we definitely felt comfortable to be able to chase,” he said.
“...We didn’t allow it to get above 450-500, which India could easily have done,”
said Stokes.