England skipper Ben Stokes was candid enough to admit ‘lazy’ running between the wickets led to his dismissal on Day 4 of the 2nd Test in Vizag on February 5, Monday. Stokes revealed a confused state of mind as he failed to complete a quick single, leading to a decisive moment in the hard-fought Test match.
England needed 322 runs on Day 4 of the Vizag Test in their pursuit to chase down a mammoth target of 399 runs. Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah kept chipping away with crucial and timely wickets as England lost 5 batters in the first session. Despite India being in the driver’s seat, one couldn’t rule out the visitors pulling off a win till Stokes was in the middle, considering his ability to pull a rabbit out of the hat.
| IND v ENG, 2nd Test Day 4 Scorecard |
However, in the 53rd over, Stokes appeared too casual in his running between the wickets and Shreyas Iyer took his sweet revenge with a sensational direct hit. There was a bit of hesitation between Stokes and his partner Ben Foakes and Iyer made full use of the opportunity to produce a stunning effort on the field. With the fall of the 7th wicket, England were almost out of the game and eventually lost by 116 runs.
“I was trying to describe it in the dressing room, it was like one of those dreams where you’re trying to run faster but you can’t,” Stokes said of his run out.
“I knew I had to go faster but for some reason, I just couldn’t, it was a really bizarre couple of seconds. You’d think by now at 32 I’d learn not to do that, it’s not the first time I’ve been run out doing something stupid. I always seem to do something that’s a talking point, good or bad, don’t I,” Stokes said in the post-match conference.
Stokes also revealed that his knee surgery has helped him perform better on the field. His successful surgery was also evident from a stunning catch of Iyer on Day 3 of the 2nd Test. Stokes ran backward around 25 yards from mid-off to grab a screamer of a catch. In the 1st Test match, Stokes pulled off a superb run-out to send Ravindra Jadeja back to pavilion on Day 4 of the 1st Test in Hyderabad.
“I got myself in the ring a bit more yesterday, purely to get a different view of the game and angles,” Stokes revealed. “When I was at extra cover I felt I was able to move a lot better, throwing the ball in off balance, so for me, before the surgery that is something I found very hard and didn’t have much confidence doing,”
“I don’t think I would have been able to take that catch before this surgery but the way I was able to move, the freedom that I felt, picking the ball up off balance. I can’t remember the last time I had grass burns because I never dived because I was worried about my knee. I feel very good about my knee. Worked very hard to get to where I am now. Definitely ahead of schedule from when I went under the knife,” Stokes said.
The England skipper underwent knee surgery after the conclusion of the ODI World Cup in November 2023 and recovered well in time ahead of the 5-match Test series against India.