Ben Stokes said he expended every last ounce of his energy in pursuit of victory after England brought an end to a day of slow-building drama and mounting tension with the defeat of India by the wafer-thin margin of 22 runs in the third Test. “I thought I had taken myself to some pretty dark places before,” he said, “but today …”
A game in which both sets of players sometimes allowed their emotions to boil over – behaviour that Stokes said he was “all for” – ended when Shoaib Bashir, playing through the pain of a broken finger that will rule him out for the final two Tests, dismissed Mohammed Siraj to put England 2-1 up in the series.
“Obviously it was a great game, a close game,” said Stokes, who hauled himself through mammoth spells of 9.2 and 10 overs across the final day. “You’d think I should be saying it was [one of my best wins], but it’s just quite hard to get my head around it at the moment. When you’re physically and emotionally tired, it’s hard to know.”
He said his celebrations were “some of the most subdued I’ve ever been in” because of the effort put in to get England over the line.
Stokes arrived to speak to the media with no shoes on and with blood soaking into his sock from the little toe on his left foot. But he said he would be “absolutely sound” by the time action resumes next week at Old Trafford.
“After we walked off the field there a whole new level of tiredness hit,” he said.
“I’ve been in games like that before, not as a captain, when I’ve been given the ball to run in and try and bowl the team to victory. But then now, adding on the decision-making around bowling changes, field placings – obviously there’s a physical element, but it shouldn’t be underestimated how the emotional and mental tiredness does get you as well.”
Both captains played down the rancour that broke out at the end of day three and occasionally bubbled up thereafter, with India’s Shubman Gill insisting there was “a lot of admiration within the two teams”.
Gill said: “Both the teams tried their best to be able to win a match. There can be moments where there will be some kind of heat. You’re in the moment, you’re trying everything to be able to do whatever it takes to make your team win. I think it happens in a game of cricket, and that’s what makes it more exciting.
“But after a Test match like this, there’s always admiration from both sides. You realise they gave their everything. We also tried our best, and they were the better team today. We both play, I think, such similar yet different cricket, we challenge each other in different ways. That’s what makes this series so exciting and special.”
Stokes said: “In big series like this there’s always going to be a moment where the two teams are going to clash. I’m all for it. I don’t think it stepped over the line.
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If you think about it, it’s 22 people out there playing for their country, the highest honour you can have in our sport, so you can understand sometimes emotions and tensions get quite high.
“But I don’t think anyone in the Indian dressing room, or anyone in the English dressing room, is going to cry themselves to sleep over what was said and done out there. It adds to the spectacle, doesn’t it?”
Inevitably this undercurrent evoked memories of the match against Australia two years ago, when the stumping of Jonny Bairstow had Lord’s seething.
“When we came in last night after taking that last wicket [of Akash Deep], the Long Room was absolutely raucous,” Stokes said. “I genuinely think it was louder than when we walked back in after that Ashes incident – but last night was more cheers and excitement as opposed to the boos when Australia were here.”
