'3-1 Doesn't Look Great, But...': Ben Stokes Remains Proud of His Side After First Test Series Loss as Captain

Reflecting on the series loss during the India tour, England skipper Ben Stokes remains proud of the side for giving it everything they have to take on the dominant hosts.

Speaking to the British media, the captain looked back on the ongoing series. He said,” 3-1 doesn’t look great, but how we’ve come at India is what I’m most proud of.”

Stokes believes that despite the odds being stacked against his side in terms of skill, he sees his side’s resilience in making it as difficult as possible for the hosts to take the win.

“We didn’t have a chance in hell of even competing with India. But that wasn’t an easy win for India, and I think they would admit that,” he added.

The all-rounder acknowledged that the Indian conditions are a new challenge for the younger bowling attack. Rehan Ahmed was their most experienced spinner coming into the tour with just one Test under his belt.

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“Looking back at when we had our chance to bat yesterday, cricket is always skill against skill. Ashwin, Jadeja and Kuldeep and the conditions we found ourselves in against them were very, very challenging.” Stokes commented.

“This young, inexperienced team has been successful over the past two years, but coming to India is a completely different beast, something that this team has not been exposed to,” he added.

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However, Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir have gone on to showcase their talents. Hartley went on to become the leading wicket-taker in the series with 20 wickets while Bashir picked up 12 wickets in the 2 games he played.

The skipper also credited the way the Indian bowlers have gone on to perform and see the gap in skills in comparison to their respective bowling attacks.

“When India has a sniff in conditions like that, any team is going to find it hard to not only keep the scoreboard ticking but rotate the strike. You’ve got to give them a lot of credit for how they bowled in very favourable conditions. On this occasion, their skill was better than ours yesterday,” said Stokes

However, the captain remains optimistic despite the tough defeat in Indian conditions and sees it as next-to-impossible to operate in their preferred manner.

“Nothing is impossible, I wouldn’t say that. But it was nigh on impossible to operate how we wanted to,” he concluded.

(with PTI Inputs)