Teams are perhaps better than us, but teams won’t be braver than us: Ben Stokes

With the hosts sealing the win in style, the fifth and final rescheduled Test between India and England was a treat to the eye for many cricket fanatics. In the five-match Test series between the two powerhouses, which got hauled the previous year due to a COVID-19 outbreak in the Indian camp, India had a strong lead of 2-1. And with the final Test getting postponed to this time, England were able to level the scores to 2-2.

Chasing an enormous target of 378 runs, this was England’s highest successful run chase in Tests. After their record-breaking attempt, winning team captain Ben Stokes admitted that he had hoped for a target of 450 to see how the team would respond. 

“When you have clarity as we do at the moment in the dressing room, it makes totals like that – and just the game in itself – a lot easier. 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 would do.

Stokes also appreciated and believed that the team had an intent and clarity about what they had to achieve. 

“The change, you know, you are talking about mindset and everything like that, but when you have 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 cited.

“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,” added the England Test captain. 

With the English red-ball team getting a major revamp, through the newly appointed coach and captain duo of Stokes and Brendon McCullum, respectively, the team has become fearsome and determined to win. 

Starting this Thursday (July 7), the two teams will be up against each other in the limited-overs series, beginning with the first T20I at Southampton.