England captain Ben Stokes aimed to keep his team’s unbeaten streak against India at Edgbaston but was left stunned as Shubman Gill’s side dominated, securing a massive 336-run victory to level the series 1-1. India amassed over 1000 runs in the match, a record Stokes said he had never witnessed at the venue before.
Stokes Labels Edgbaston Pitch ‘Subcontinent Wicket’
Speaking to BBC’s Test Match Special post-match, Stokes admitted the pitch changed as the game progressed, increasingly favoring the Indian team due to its ‘subcontinent’ characteristics. He explained how the surface initially offered something for both sides, but later became challenging for England as the conditions played into India’s strengths.
“𝑻𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕, 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒔𝒖𝒃𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆,” 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅. “𝑰𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒔𝒍𝒐𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒖𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒃𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒖𝒔.”
Fans React Strongly to Stokes’ Comments
Stokes’ remarks did not sit well with many England supporters, who criticized him for the ‘subcontinent pitch’ explanation. Some fans went as far as calling the captain a ‘crybaby’ for seemingly blaming the conditions rather than the team’s performance.
𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒅, “𝑾𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉.” 𝑨𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒅, “𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒕.”
The debate over the pitch conditions and England’s performance is likely to continue as the series moves forward.
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