England opener Alex Lees reckons Ben Stokes’ spell turned the game on its head on the fourth day’s play against India in the fifth Test match at Edgbaston, Birmingham on Monday. The England captain accounted for Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah to help his team get back into the contest. Earlier on Day three, he had got the big wicket of Virat Kohli.
India was in a dominating position as they were leading by 257 runs but England kept getting regular wickets in the opening session of the penultimate day. The hosts took four wickets in the first session and then Ben Stokes wiped out the India tail, which had wagged in the first innings.
As a result, India could only get a lead of 377 runs and they could have got a lead of around 450 runs if they had batted sensibly.
England adopted the strategy of attacking the India batters with short pitched deliveries and the ploy worked wonders as the visitors felt in the trap.
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Alex Lees feels their bowling got them back in the match as they bowled in the right areas to get their wickets.
“The thing that actually brought us back into the game was our bowling. I think (Ben) Stokes’ spell this morning (when he took four wickets) really turned the game on its head. And that is probably the defining moment for me within this Test match. We could have easily been chasing 450 – 500 (runs). So I think, the bowlers, how they bowled that second innings and particularly this morning, coming in overnight, I think that was the biggest turning point,” Lees said.
On the other hand, Alex Lees gave a perfect start to England along with his opening partner Zak Crawley. The right and left-hand batting pair added 107 runs for the opening stand to give a fine platform to their team. Lees was the aggressor in the alliance as he took the attack against the Indian bowlers.
“And then back to the batting, and how we feel within the dressing room, like you say, I think everybody’s pretty confident. We know we have to play positively to put the bowlers under some pressure and the target, really, you know it is there, but it is almost in the background. We are just trying to put the pressure on the bowlers and score some runs, really. Like you say, we know it is there, but it is not something we necessarily spoke about,” the opener said.
Meanwhile, England had chase down 300 two times against New Zealand and they are a confident unit. The hosts are now 119 runs away from a historic win against India and they have seven wickets in hand.
“Yeah I think, probably (we have had) some good experience over the last series, obviously, (against) New Zealand (when England won 3-0). And I just think there is ultimate belief in one another from (positions) 1 to 11 that we can do it. And then, on a personal note, obviously my role on a run-chase is to put some pressure on the India bowlers and, obviously, it means I had a solid day (56 runs). I would have, obviously, liked to make more runs of course. But, yeah, I just think we need to really put the bowlers under pressure, particularly when you are chasing a target like that,” the batter concluded on the matter.
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