England captain Ben Stokes feels that he is ready to bowl for the first time in several months and that might probably happen when the English contingent heads over to Ranchi for the 4th Test of the 5-match series in which the visitors find themselves behind by 2-1. Stokes made this claim during the post-match press conference after his side lost by a whopping 434 runs in the 3rd Test.
Neither Ben Stokes nor his Bazballing England could even get close to what Rohit Sharma’s India were doing throughout the Rajkot Test. After choosing to bat first after winning the toss, the Indians got behind in the game during the initial hours as English bowlers reduced India to 3 wickets for just 33 runs.
But after that, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja took charge and steadied India’s ship in the middle by standing for a partnership of 204 runs and taking India from 33/3 to 237 before Rohit’s innings came to an end for 131 while Jadeja kept going strong.
The Rajkot homeboy would then stand for a crucial partnership with debutant Sarfaraz Khan who scored a very good half-century before losing his wicket to an unfortunate run-out which was a result of a terrible mix-up caused by Jadeja but for most parts of the 1st innings, Ben Stokes’ bowlers did not know what to do before getting them all out for 445 runs on day 2.
Then during England’s turn to come out and bat, Ben Duckett was the stand-out performer with his 153-run knock while Stokes scored 41. And it will be better if we don’t talk about their batting in the 4th innings as it was absolutely horrible and their response while chasing a 500+ total was shambolic.
One of the main concerns for the visitors that arises after the 3rd Test has been the bowling department. And in order to help his team get over the woes, Ben Stokes feels he is ready to rock with the ball as his knee injury has recovered faster than he expected.
“I have managed to get my first bowl at 100 percent in the warm-up. I’m not going to lie, I feel really great. I felt like I could have bowled in this game but that would have been stupid. As a person I like to jump the gun a little bit but things are feeling really good. I have a whole body to get used to bowling again. It’s a yes but it’s not a no either,” Ben Stokes said.
“Thinking too deep can send you on a downhill spiral” – Ben Stokes said after a heavy loss in Rajkot
After shedding light on his bowling, Ben Stokes claimed that games are won and lost in their head and England lost exactly there. He stated that they must learn from their mistakes and must not overthink much as it can send them downhill.
“Losing games for England isn’t where you want be but games are won or lost in the head. Learn from disappointment but use it in a positive way, not let it eat you. I know that thinking too deep into certain things can send you on a downhill spiral,” Stokes concluded.