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India series defeat would not change England: Stokes
PUNE, India, March 25, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – England will not change their
aggressive style of play even if they lose the one day series against India,
after their defeats in the Test and Twenty20 games, Ben Stokes insisted
Thursday.
England must beat India in Pune on Friday to keep alive their hopes of
winning the series. Defeat could see them lose their number one world ODI
ranking to India.
“We would be bitterly disappointed to lose a series as we would with any
other one,” said Stokes, who was the hero of England’s World Cup triumph in
2019.
“We deserve to be number one because of our results and the way we play
our cricket and we won’t go away from that.”
No longer being number one would not be the end of the world, the star
all-rounder said.
“Our driving force is the way we go about it and our attitude towards
playing the game. “That is what has made us be successful and the more
successful we are then the more opportunities we have got to be at number
one.
“So our driving force is making sure we stay true to ourselves and our
belief in how we play the game — and that is something we will not change.”
England were thrashed by 66 runs in the first game, adding to alarm bells
after their 3-2 defeat in the T20s and 3-1 loss in the Tests.
“We know we are a much better team than that,” said Stokes.
“We are bitterly disappointed but what we have been very good at is
putting previous games to bed quickly whether we have had a successful game
or a poor game, and all our concentration will be on tomorrow.”
Stokes also said England would not be panicked into changing their batting
lineup. He has played at number three for the one day games because of the
absence of Joe Root.
“Just because we lost the T20 series doesn’t mean we need to start
changing things around.
“When we win nobody says too much but when we lose everyone starts to pipe
up again. I am happy where everything is in our white ball team because that
is our best formula to win.”
England could be forced into changes on Friday because of injuries to Sam
Billings and captain Eoin Morgan in the first game.
Billings hurt his shoulder in a heavy fall while fielding and Morgan
needed stitches to split webbing between two fingers.
“Sam is a lot better than we initially thought,” said Stokes, but the
batsman was being “assessed”.
BSS/AFP/BZC/1925HRS