Tags: England tour of India 2024,
India vs England 2nd Test at Visakhapatnam, Feb 02-06, 2024,
India,
England,
Benjamin Andrew Stokes
Published on: Feb 06, 2024
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England captain Ben Stokes raised questions over the DRS decision that gave Zak Crawley out lbw to Kuldeep Yadav. He, however, admitted that the dismissal cannot be blamed for England’s defeat in the second Test in Visakhapatnam.
India beat England by 106 runs on Day 4 of the second Test Visakhapatnam to level the five-match series 1-1. After setting England a target of 399, India bowled them out for 292 as Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep starred with three wickets each.
Crawley top-scored for England with 73, but was given lbw to Kuldeep in the first session of play. He was struck on the pad by a length delivery that pitched on leg. The original decision was given not out by the on-field umpire Marais Erasmus. India took DRS and ball tracking showed three red dots, even though the ball pitched on leg stump.
Crawley’s wicket was a big setback for England as none of the batters reached the 40-mark in the innings. Speaking after the game, Stokes reflected on the contentious dismissal. Giving an honest view, he said, “Technology in the game is obviously there. Everyone has an understanding of the reasons it can never be 100% which is why we have the umpire’s call. That’s why it’s in place.
“When it’s not 100% as everyone says, I don’t think it’s unfair for someone to say ‘I think the technology has got it wrong on this occasion’. And that is my personal opinion. I will say that,” Stokes added.
“But in a game full of ifs, buts and maybes, I am not going to say that’s the reason why we haven’t got the result we wanted. I’m just saying my personal opinion is that the technology has gone wrong on this occasion, and I think that’s fair to say,” the England captain stated, concluding his views on Crawley’s dismissal.
On England’s chase, he asserted that he was confident of his batters’ ability of chasing down 399 and also praised his players for putting India under pressure.
“We had full belief in ourselves that we could chase that down. The way we have gone about taking on challenges like that is what we are about. There are times when you have scoreboard pressure and a lot of runs to chase down, and that’s when our approach and how we want to go about things really comes out. I thought today, we applied ourselves and put their bowlers under pressure and it was great,” Stokes commented on the chase.
“Unfortunately we didn’t end up on the right side of the result. There is no suggestion [from me] on how to go out and play. We knew there is a task ahead, knew there was 330 (332) to get, everybody in that dressing room is a quality player,” he continued.
The third Test of the India vs England series will be played in Rajkot from February 15, to February 19.
–By A Cricket Correspondent