DHARAMSHALA: Ahead of the fifth and final Test against India, England skipper Ben Stokes has his focus on the crucial ICC World Test Championship points, even though the series has been lost.
India and England will lock horns in the fifth and final Test of the series in Dharamshala from Thursday. India has won the series 3-1, handing England their first series loss under the leadership of Stokes and coach McCullum.
Both sides still have World Test Championship points to gain in Dharamsala, even though the series has been decided. India is on top of the World Test Championship standings while England is eighth on the points table.
Ahead of the game, Stokes said on Tuesday as quoted by ESPNCricinfo, “Well, it is like whenever we play. We want to win this week.”
For England, complacency is not an option as they are feeling the need to step up their game to the next level, after a series of missed opportunities that did not let them win the Ashes series against Australia at home despite a remarkable fightback and against India here, giving the Asian giants plenty of headaches during four matches. But England could not make it count during the pressure situations and lost the series despite the promise shown with both bat and ball.
“It is not a mental or a mentality thing. All you can do is work your hardest and try in the nets because that is where you get better,” said Stokes.
The skipper also praised the middle-order veteran Jonny Bairstow, who is all set to play his 100th Test match. The duo has had a long association since the age-group cricket. Bairstow also rated his 2022 Test summer, Stokes’ first as a captain, as a major highlight of his career.
But Stokes was unwilling to take credit for it and reflected on what it means to the batter and his family, saying, “I am not the one who is out there doing that. This is probably going to be more of an emotional thing for Jonny than it ever was for me. I do not need to go into details as to why about the whole family. He has got his mam, sister, partner, little baby boy and some friends here.”
“Playing for England means so much to Jonny and means so much to his family as well and to play over 100 ODIs, 100 Tests – a lot of cricket for England – it means a hell of a lot to him. He deserves everything that gets spoken about him in the build-up to the game and throughout the week as well,” said Stokes.
England is considering the idea of picking up a three-seamer attack for the first time on this tour. With James Anderson fully fit and two scalps away from 700 Test wickets, he will be playing. Mark Wood could be returning for his third match of the series. While Stokes labelled young Gus Atkinson as an “exciting talent”, Ollie Robinson is likely to retain his spot despite a bad outing at Ranchi, going wicketless in 13 overs of his first innings, and picking up a back issue as well. He did deliver with the bat though, scoring his maiden fifty. But his ineffectiveness with the ball and dropped catches cost England a lot during the game. He put down the catch of Dhruv Jurel, who went on to win the game for India almost single-handedly.
Stokes backed Ollie, whose Test record is still an impressive 76 wickets at an average of 22.92 in 20 Tests. He indicated that the 30-year-old is a vital part of England’s future set-up.
“You are more gutted for Ollie that something on day one, his back going, which affects the role he can play in the long run. He is more disappointed that he could not help the team out as much as he’d like,” he said.
“With Ollie, we look at the effort he put in as an individual leading up to and on this tour. His work ethic away from playing was very good, and he gave himself the best chance of being in a position to win that game for us.”
“The thing to look at is that he was out on the field, trying to influence the game even though he was not feeling 100 per cent. A lesser man would have put their hands up, walked away and not even tried,” concluded Stokes.
Stokes said that just because they have lost the series, does not mean that this game is going to be any different. Every opportunity to play for England is special, he added.
“We have been on so many India tours, you know what it is like when you get to an end of a long one – that sometimes you start thinking about the end of the game,” Stokes warned.
“I do not think that anyone is thinking like that because every opportunity we feel at the moment is special to play for England. Because we have lost the series, it does not mean that this game is different to what last week was or the week before.”
“We will think about the plane and getting home when we are at the airport. So I would not be thinking about that whatsoever until the game’s done,” he concluded. (ANI)
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