England captain Ben Stokes has conceded that they were nothing short of outplayed by the home side. 'We came here with high hopes and losing the series after winning the first one [Test] is really disappointing,' Stokes told the media after India's innings and 64-run win in the fifth and final Test here on Saturday.

Despite being disappointed with his own form and the series loss, Stokes said there were some positives that the team would take forward as a lot of cricket lies ahead at home this summer with three Test matches each against West Indies and Sri Lanka. “We’ve got so much cricket coming up, taking the positives is something I’m looking forward to and driving this team forward,” he said.

Small moments matter

Stokes felt that not grabbing the small moments made a lot of difference. “There were small moments when we were not able to wrestle momentum back. It’s about trying to learn from those moments and be a bit more relentless in the future.”.

On the aggressive batting which led to their downfall, the England skipper defended it by saying, “When India get on

top… men around the bat, the quality of bowlers like Ashwin, Jadeja, Kuldeep coming at you... you’ve got to find ways of pushing men out and that comes with risk. It can be your downfall, but if the intent is there, you hold your hands up.

Glorious CC all the way!

“The plan has worked well for us in the past and I don’t see the need to revisit our attacking style dubbed Bazball.”

The skipper praised the hard work and perseverance of Anderson and called his achievement phenomenal.