ENG VS IND 5th Test Update: Stokes Inspires England to Pursue Victory Against India
ENG VS IND 5th Test: In the upcoming Test match, England, led by Ben Stokes, is determined to salvage pride despite India’s series lead.
Ollie Robinson receives encouragement from the test captain as England considers a three-man seam attack.
In a Test match, England will be battling for dignity for the first time under captain Ben Stokes.
England’s only hope of winning two games in a series against the hosts and going home with a 3-2 victory is all that stands between them and India. However, the fundamental reason for so is that not all Test nations are able to host five Tests in this region. Only four were granted to Australia at this time last year.
This fifth and final Test is being held in Dharamsala, which adds additional scenery context and, for some, a sense of divinity. On Wednesday morning, a number of the visiting party members will meet the Dalai Lama. Currently, it is improbable that England’s spiritual leader will be one of them.
Even though the series is over, Stokes is still fully focused on the remaining portion of the tour. When questioned about what is at stake other than a few World Test Championship points, he said, “Well, it’s like whenever we play,” “We want to win this week.”
There is no room for complacency, especially considering this team needs to perform better. It hurt to lose out on possibilities to play Australia last summer, and similar missed chances in India indicate that a good team needs to start performing better under pressure.
Stokes stated, “It’s not a mental or a mentality thing,” in a casual manner. “All you can do is work your hardest and try your nuts off in the nets because that’s where you get better.”
England nearly took the metaphorical “freezing off” on Tuesday morning in the nets. During the interval between the second and third Test, the team brought over several beanie hats and a couple long-sleeve cream jumpers, which the majority of the players practiced in. This match is a completely different prospect because of the cooler weather and even the predicted rain on the first day.
For their first time on the tour, England is toying with the idea of a three-pronged seam assault, but they will hold off until Wednesday afternoon to assess the condition of what Stokes called a “belting deck” in terms of batting, with surprisingly little grass due to the recent rain.
Shoaib Bashir, who has bowled nearly 38% of his first-class overs in the past month, is tending to a split finger. He’s probably the one who gives way to the choice of going faster.
Mark Wood might make a comeback for his third match of the series with James Anderson totally fit after a quad strain kept him off the field for the fourth Test’s last session. Anderson is just two dismissals shy from reaching 700 in his career. While Stokes praised Gus Atkinson, an uncapped quick, as “an exciting talent”, Ollie Robinson, who hasn’t played since last July’s defeat at Ranchi, may hold onto his spot in the starting lineup.
Robinson had a back injury when racing between the wickets to accumulate his first Test fifty, and he was out for 13 overs, all of which went to the first innings. It severely curtailed his efficiency, which in turn reduced England’s explosiveness when they had the ball. The fact that Dhruv Jurel was expensively dropped during India’s opening innings added to his sorrow.
Robinson, whose Test record still stands at an amazing 76 wickets at 22.92, was backed by Stokes. Furthermore, he made it very evident that he believes the 30-year-old will play a significant role in England’s future.
“You feel even more sorry for Ollie because of something that happened to him on day one—his back—which will ultimately limit the part he can play. More than anything, he regrets not being able to assist the squad to the extent he would have liked “he remarked.
“With Ollie, we consider the personal effort he made both before and during this tour. He put himself in the greatest possible position to win that game for us because of his excellent work ethic off the field.
“What’s important to note is that, despite not feeling well, he attempted to impact the game while on the field. A less honorable guy would have raised his hands, turned to leave, and not even attempted.”
Ahead of Yorkshire batter Jonny Bairstow’s 100th cap, Stokes reserved special admiration for him. The two have a lengthy history together, dating back to their youth cricket days. Furthermore, it was telling that Bairstow considered the summer of 2022—Stokes’ first as captain—to be a career high point.
Naturally, Stokes refused to accept the credit, saying, “I’m not the one who’s out there doing that,” alluding to the 681 runs that season that were scored in just six Test matches. However, knowing Bairstow well—having brought up three figures in the third Test at Rajkot and dismissed them—he understands the significance of this for the 34-year-old.
“Jonny is likely to experience this on a deeper emotional level than I have ever experienced. I won’t get into the specifics of why for the entire family. Here with him are his mother, sister, partner, little son, and a few pals.
“Being an England player means a great deal to Jonny and his family. He has played a great deal of cricket for England, having participated in over 100 ODIs and 100 Test matches. He merits every word that has been said about him both this week and in the lead-up to the game.”
Even though this match doesn’t mean much in the big picture, England must treat it like a major one before they can start to close the gap with India amid all the Bairstow-related fanfare. Before the squad began training, Stokes prepared a note to remind them of that.
“We’ve been on so many India tours, you know what it’s like when you get to an end of a long one – that sometimes you start thinking about the end of the game,” Stokes stated.
Nobody, in my opinion, is considering things that way because, at the moment, every chance we get to play for England seems unique. This game is not any different from last week’s or the week before because we lost the series.”Once we’re at the airport, we’ll talk about the plane and returning home. I thus promise not to worry about that at all till the game is over.”
