England captain Ben Stokes conceded that his side was comprehensively outplayed by India across the board, and the difference was made by debutant bowler Akash Deep in the second Test.
Making his series debut, Akash Deep pulled off a remarkable display by taking 10 wickets in the match, being instrumental in India's comprehensive 336-run victory — their first Test victory at Edgbaston. With the series now 1-1, attention shifts to the third Test at Lord's, beginning July 10.
"I believed Akash exposed that crack yesterday night and today morning. The way he was using and switching his angles all the time and still being so precise. He was focusing on that crack. That single Harry Brook's this morning you cannot do anything," Stokes mentioned in the post-match press conference.
Akash's pick of the day was his relentless pounding of the stumps, good length, and utilization of the natural chariness of the pitch. He also produced the most seam movement throughout the game.
There was one delivery to Brook — a length ball that hit a crack and jagged back into the pads — which was almost unplayable.
"Standing at the other end when Jamie Smith picked a couple of those early on. It was seaming a foot off it. Brilliant skillful to target that zone while continuing to vary his angles on the crease. I thought it was good," Stokes said further.
"Our aim was to bat out 80 overs"
Bouncing back from their second innings at 72 for three, England survived only 52.1 overs on the last day while pursuing an unlikely 608. Being a team with aggressive approach, they seldom play for draws, yet Stokes conceded that the position of the match did not leave them much space in which to try to win the match.
.300 and something is quite a margin (of defeat). We had an idea what work we had in front of us going into when we went out to bat for the first time. That got altered when you lose three wickets last night and lose two early wickets," he said.
"The challenge today was batting through the 80 overs. The outcome we always try to drive towards, and seek, was more than…for us as a batting team, to go out there and bat through the 80 overs was to go and play how we play and concentrate on the fact that we knew that we had to bat through 80 overs."
Stokes also made indirect reference to India's strategic thinking, mentioning their late declaration: "…India pushed to get 600 for some obvious reasons."
Turning Points
In response to identifying turning points in the game, Stokes identified two instances where momentum was turned decisively in favor of India.
"There were two moments in the game. Having them 200 for five and then not quite being able to blast them open, like we know that we can.".
"They managed to get a substantial first innings score, naturally after we'd got off to a good start, having them five down for not a great deal on the board.
"And then obviously being 80 for five in response to the first innings, it's clearly going to be difficult to get back to a place where you want to press on and be on the winning team at the end of the game."
India's Seamers Outperformed Ours
Stokes acknowledged that India’s fast bowlers outbowled their English counterparts, especially when it came to making chances count.
We nicked a couple more than India did. It's one of those, where we went past the bat a couple of times, had a few nicks fall in the game. We nicked them and India caught them. It can be such an infuriating game some times and be out there to see this stuff happen in front of you.".
"That's why you enjoy it, being with the emotions of this game. That is one of the reasons Test cricket is a game people enjoy watching, a bit of fortune here and there and you are the team on top.
"They batted and bowled better as an all round unit, this week. We were in that position last week," he finished.
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