Ben Stokes lauds Duckett, Crawley and team’s mindset after England’s stunning chase vs India at Leeds

England captain Ben Stokes praised his team’s skill and mindset after a record fourth-innings chase to defeat India in the first Test at Leeds. He credited Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley’s opening stand and hailed Josh Tongue’s game-changing spells.

HYDERABAD: The victorious England captain Ben Stokes said it was unbelievable unless one were to be involved in it, the pressure in the fourth innings, going out there.

“Opening the batting is hard enough, especially in England. So that partnership that Zak (Crawley) and Ben (Duckett) got us off to was just incredible. Those two complement each other so well. Obviously, Ducky got the big score that contributed towards us winning this game. But I thought the way that Zak Crawley was able to stay composed, and stay in the moment, and sense that Ducky was getting off to the flyer,” Stokes said in the post-match briefing after England drubbed India at Leeds in the first Test in a record-chase.

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“There’s been a lot of skill that’s contributed towards us winning this Test match,” Ben Stokes said, “but also the attitude that the team has shown towards this game.”

“We’ve been in the field for long periods of time twice throughout this game, but I thought every session we turned up with the attitude that we could blow this game open at any point. We always knew that we were only a couple wickets away from running through the pack, and Josh Tongue’s spells in both innings were massively game-changing,” Stokes said.

“You don’t know what’s going to happen before a ball is bowled, you’ve got to go with what you think is going to give you the best chance of winning the game,” he said. “The wicket here on day one looked like there was a bit of grass on top of it. There was a bit of moisture underneath it,” Stokes said on putting India in to bat after winning the toss.

“We backed ourselves to win that toss and bowl first, and try to strike a couple of early poles. But the opposition is allowed to play well. This is international-level cricket, where the quality of players on either side are very good. We bowled pretty well on that first session. But India played incredibly,” Stokes said.

For his part, Ben Duckett said it was really important that he and Zak Crawley got through without losing any wickets. “It was pretty clear to us this morning. If we batted for the whole day [at the tempo that] we normally do, we’d probably get the total, so we didn’t overthink anything. Certainly we had to get through Jasprit’s first spell and that new ball, and from there on, we were just playing our natural games,” Duckett said.

“Bumrah is a world-class bowler. In that first innings he was superb, so to limit his damage was massive for us. Our individuals are all going to go about it differently, but I thought we did play him very well today,” said the England opener who scored a brilliant century.