Birmingham [UK] July 1 : Heading into the second test against India at Edgbaston, Birmingham, England skipper Ben Stokes spoke about his and the rest of the team's fitness after bowling so much in the first test at Leeds.
After suffering a 5-wicket loss in the opening Test, despite setting a target of 371, Team India will be looking to level the series in the second Test of the five-match series. The crucial match will be played from July 2 to July.
"I feel better now than I did on Thursday and Friday. I think everyone was, sort of, very tired from that week. It was a big week, we were in the field and bowled four out of the five days," Ben Stokes said in the pre-match press conference.
"Used the three days after that game to offer absolutely nothing to the world. I was a shadow of my normal self, but yeah, that just goes to show how much, you know, a five-day test match takes out of you. But yeah, I was pretty tired, but all over that now and ready to go tomorrow," he added.
Stokes emphasised the importance of the team starting "at zero" this week, despite their 1-0 lead. He acknowledged the first test victory over India and the need to refocus on achieving another win.
"Obviously going 1-0 up, good start, but one of the important things for us heading into this week is starting at zero again. We know last week was a very tough fourth victory for us, obviously. Long five days, so just about, as I say, getting back to zero and going again and obviously focusing on trying to get the win here."
England's skipper also expressed confidence in his team's ability to chase runs, drawing from past experiences over the last few years.
"I think we're confident in our abilities to be able to go out and chase runs on the board when we have to bat in the fourth innings. That obviously comes from a lot of good experiences in the past over the last three, four years and being able to chase," he said.
Despite Rishabh Pant's excellent twin tons and a century apiece from KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal, India were defeated in the first test by Ben Stokes' men, who feasted on their costly errors, badly timed collapses, and poor catching.
England playing XI for second Test against India: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir.