‘Our greatest triumph’ – Ben Stokes on England’s win against India in 1st Test Match

The English Test team captain Ben Stokes recently got candid in the post ceremony after England beat India by 28 runs in the first Test match of their tour. The English bowlers took the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium by storm as they dismissed India within 202 runs in the second innings in the first game of the match Test series.  

England’s all-rounder Ben Stokes called the win over India in the first game as one of the greatest triumphs he has been a part of ever since he took over the captaincy in Test cricket. He also appreciated Ollie Pope who missed a well-deserving double century by four runs and the debutant Tom Hartley who took nine wickets in the game, including seven in the second innings. 

Ben Stokes calls the win against India the greatest 

In the post-match ceremony, Ben Stokes said, “Since I have taken the captaincy on, we have had a lot of fantastic moments as a team. We’ve got a lot of great victories, and we’ve been part of some amazing games. Where we are and who were playing against, this victory is probably, 100% definitely, our greatest triumph. It’s my first time coming out here being a captain. I am a great observer of the game. I learned a lot from our first innings in the field.”

He added, “I watched how Indian spinners operated, how Rohit set the field and tried to take a lot of that into our innings. Absolutely thrilled for everyone. Tom Hartley on debut getting nine wickets, Ollie Pope coming back after his shoulder surgery, incredible effort from everyone. Tom came into the squad for the first time. A lot of confidence given to him. I was willing to give him longer spells regardless of what happened because I knew I had to turn back to him at some point.” 

“We completely back people who we have been selected. I have been lucky enough to play a lot of Test matches in the subcontinent. Same Joe Root, I have seen some pretty special innings from him. But the situation we found ourselves in, coming in at No. 3, the shots he played, 190 on such a difficult wicket, he was able to manipulate the field with sweep shots and reverse-sweeps, the way he was able to rotate the strike, I think that’s the greatest innings that’s ever been played in the subcontinent by an English batsman”, Stokes said.