Ben Stokes rues missed bowling opportunities after Edgbaston loss

On Day 1 at Edgbaston, just after Tea, England had reduced India to 211 for 5 having picked up the wickets of Rishabh Pant and Nitish Kumar Reddy in quick succession. With England allowing the visitors to post a mammoth 587 in the first innings from that point, courtesy a double-century from Shubman Gill, skipper Ben Stokes was left to rue two missed opportunities which turned the balance of the game in India's favour.

"I think there were two moments in the game. Having them 200 for five and then not quite being able to blast them open, like we know that we can. They ended up getting a big first innings total, obviously after us having a good start, having them five down for not too many on the board. Then, being 80 for five in reply to the first innings, it's obviously going to be tough to get back into a position where you [can] look to push on and be on the winning side, at the end of the game."

England's bowling has been a major concern in the two Tests so far. Despite winning the Headingley Test, India were in commanding positions in both innings in Leeds before they collapsed - from 430/3 to 471 and then from 333/4 to 364 in the second. This time in Edgbaston the English bowlers managed to pick up only 16 wickets at the cost of 1014 runs across both innings. Stokes admitted that it wouldn't be possible to emerge victorious if the bowlers couldn't pick up 20 wickets but he also lauded India's application with the bat.

"You can't win a game if you don't take 20 wickets," Stokes said. "You do have to appreciate how well India played with the bat. Obviously, pretty favourable conditions if someone got in, two of our lads [Harry Brook and Jamie Smith] showed that this week. If you get in, it is very hard to get someone out. India is full of world class players. Shubman [Gill] has had another unbelievable week with the bat. Skill against skill, it is always tough."

England's bowlers have bowled a combined total of 234 overs at Edgbaston and 209 overs at Headingley in the series so far. Stokes was highly appreciative of his bowlers' hunger to run in and bowl in any situation, but also admitted that they had been out in the field far longer than they had imagined.

"Yeah, absolutely good as gold. I think the efforts that we all put in as a bowling unit there, especially the big quicks, was you throw the ball [to them] in any situation and they keep charging in, running in, but it's no secret that we have spent some time in the field and bowled some overs in the first two games and we'll have to see how everyone pulls up over the next two days."

With the Lord's Test only three days away, Stokes agreed that changes could be in store in the bowling attack depending on their fitness. "With it being a quick turnaround there probably will be a decision we have to make given how everyone does pull up after this game," Stokes said. "We will have one or two days to get the bodies right and recover and all of sudden we will be out there flipping the coin."

In contrast to England's bowling woes, India, led by Akash Deep who picked up a ten-wicket haul in the match, got the ball to talk and had the home team's top-order back in the shed at 84 for 5 and 83 for 5 in the first and second innings respectively. Stokes put India's success as a bowling unit down to his own team nicking a lot more deliveries than the Indian batters had done.

"We nicked a few more than India did. It's one of those, where we went past the bat a few times, had a few nicks go in the game. We nicked them and India caught them. It can be such a frustrating game sometimes and to be out there to watch this stuff unfold in front of you...They played better as an all round unit, batting and bowling this week. We were in that position last week."

Stokes heaped praise on Shubman Gill who scored 269 and 161 in the Edgbaston Test. "He's had some two games, hasn't he? These two innings he played here especially in that first innings, you've got to give your opposition credit when it's due, and for him to bang out as many runs as he has done in this game it's pretty special for him.

"Early on we've got plans on attacking the stumps and trying to bring in the LBW. there's been a couple of times early on where he's just mostly got a little inside nick on those are the kind of things that happens when a player is in form," Stokes said.