Barring Jonny Bairstow’s impressive century, some of the England batsmen put up a lot of resistance, but their effort was not enough to stop India from gaining the upper hand after the first innings. Stokes joined Bairstow at the crease with England in serious trouble on 5/83, but the pair managed to save some honors from the innings on 5/149, before the captain inexplicably lost his wicket.
He got lucky after Mohammed Shami charged on the pitch, with Shardul Thakur dropping an easy chance off the top edge. Three overs later, Ben Stokes tried to go ahead against Thakur, this time but dropped the catch after giving Jasprit Bumrah a difficult chance at mid-off.
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He tried the same again on the very next ball, missed his shot again, but this time Bumrah made no mistake, sending Stokes on his way. While McCullum and Stokes greeted each other with a smile in the shade, former England batsman Kevin Pietersen said it was a bizarre way of approaching an innings. “It’s reckless batting, it’s not defending your wicket, it’s not protecting what we call the value of your wicket as a batsman,” Pietersen told Sky Sports.
“Test match centuries are valuable, and when you score a century in a Test match it means a lot because of the tension, and the tension, and the patience, and the discipline.
“I was there looking at Stokes and thinking ‘He’s the captain. He’s talking about this new brand of cricket: Slog, Thakur drops him. Slog, straight to mid-off, drop him’ does. Slog again, out.
“They are three brainfed from Ben Stokes in 10 minutes. And that’s where I think the devaluation of his Test wicket is something I’m seeing and that can’t be a good thing.”
Pietersen was not alone in his reservations, with former Test captain Nasser Hussain and England batsman Mark Butcher also criticizing Stokes’ decision-making. Hossain said his determination to follow new coach McCullum’s instructions and set an example for his teammates was influencing his own game – showing in the past that patience is an important aspect of his game.
“This batsman is taking something away from Stokes as he has been one of the smartest batsmen over the years, going back to 2019 and Headingley Test and World Cup finals, as he thinks his way through situations, Hussain wrote for the Daily Mail.
“Now he’s in charge. He doesn’t want to ask a player to do something he’s not willing to do himself and there have been times this summer on the pitch when he doesn’t need it. There will come a time when He’ll have to adjust a bit.”