Ben Stokes says England's win over India will "close some mouths"

08/05/2018

English all-rounder, Ben stokes has stated that England’s win over India in their first Test match in Edgbaston will “close mouths” of all those who have been doubting England’s ability to win. He has also stated that beating India will help boost team confidence for the rest of the series.

After Virat Kohli’s masterclass closed the deficit to only 13 runs, India tried to make a strong comeback in the next innings to restrict England to a rather moderate score of 180 runs. This put england in a tough situation wherein it had to stop India from chasing the achievable target. It was Ben Stokes’s edge cutting spell that helped England pick up four crucial early wickets, yet again which led to India’s defeat. Stokes had been consistent throughout the match as he managed to grab two in the first innings and four match winning dismissals in the second innings.

Stokes stated that the win over the current No.1 ranked Test team, India, will help boost the confidence of the entire English Squad. He also added that there have been several people who have been doubting the capability of their team to win against big teams and that the Win against India shall help them prove all the naysayers wrong.

“I’m just so proud to be a part of this group and playing for England. We’ll take a lot of confidence from winning into the rest of this series.” Stokes quoted to ‘the guardian”.

On the removal of Kohli, he said, “He played brilliantly in the first innings [scoring 149] and we were just playing for the swing when I got him there. We weren’t sure what to expect today, we just knew we had to get five wickets,” the Englishman added.

“We’ve had a lot of stick recently so to beat a team like India will hopefully close some mouths,” Stokes was quoted as saying.