More Pressure We Get Put Into As A Team, More We’ll Benefit From It - Ben Stokes Says There Is A 'Weird' Positive For England In Losing 4th T20I

Superstar England all-rounder, Ben Stokes feels that though his side lost the 4th T20I against India on Tuesday – hence the series is level going into the decider on Saturday – however, the visitors have also gained a ‘weird’ positive out of losing.

Ben Stokes reckons while they would have wanted to win the series before the fifth T20I, but, this also gives Eoin Morgan’s team to play and test themselves in a high-intensity pressure situation of playing the series-decider like a final of the T20 World Cup which is to be staged in India later this year.

The southpaw believes that England, who are unbeaten in their last 8 T20I series, will immensely benefit if they could win the last T20I – hence the series – overcoming high pressure against India.

“In an ideal world, we would have loved to have gone into the next game, having already won the series. It sounds weird saying that we got a positive out of losing. We go into the next game with a huge amount of pressure on our shoulders as a team, because whoever wins that game, wins the series,” said Ben Stokes in the post-match press conference.

“That’s great for us as a team, especially with a T20 World Cup coming up because the more pressure situations we get put into as a team, the more I think we’ll benefit from it.

“It is a final because if we don’t win then we lose a series and we don’t want to lose series, we want to win and we want to make a habit of winning them. The more situations we get put into where we’ve got pressure on us and we keep prevailing, that’s just going to do us good,” he added.

Frustrating getting out when you feel like you’ve got the game in your hands – Ben Stokes

Ben Stokes wasn’t involved much in action during the first three games, however, on Tuesday, after taking a wicket with the ball, the left-hander almost took his side home in a big run chase. After Dawid Malan’s scratchy 17-ball for 14 runs knock, Stokes and Jonny Bairstow teed off the Indian bowlers with the all-rounder scoring 46 runs off 23 balls – however, he was dismissed by a smart pace-off delivery from Shardul Thakur.

“It’s always frustrating getting out, and even more when you feel like you’ve got the game in your hands. You’ve got to look at these things and assess them and learn from them. We’ve got the T20 World Cup coming up and we will be put in a similar position at some point in the tournament. These are all great learning experiences,” the 29-year-old stated.

Also Read: India’s Squad For The ODI Series Against England Announced, No Place For Mohammed Shami And Ravindra Jadeja