England captain Ben Stokes was hoping to keep his nation’s unbeaten record against India at Edgbaston intact, but Shubman Gill‘s men rose to the occasion and thumped the hosts to level the series 1-1 on Sunday. The match saw India score over 1000 runs before handing England a defeat by a big margin of 336 runs. Analysing the result of the game, Stokes admitted that he had never seen so many runs being scored at the venue before. He even called the Edgbaston surface a ‘subcontinent wicket’ that ended up aiding the Indian team more than it should have.
Speaking to BBC’s Test Match Special after the game, Stokes said that it became tougher for his team to score runs as the match went on, as the pitch suited the touring team more due to its ‘subcontinent’ nature.
“To be honest, it’s probably ended up being more of a subcontinent pitch as it’s got deeper and deeper into the game. You know, there certainly is a little bit in it to start off with, and I think we exposed that very, very well early on,” Stokes said.
“But yeah, then just as it sort of got deeper and deeper, it just, yeah, it became a real tough slog for us and obviously, with the Indian attack and the conditions that they’ used to, they were used to and used some of how to expose those conditions, just sort of a little bit better than that can happen sometimes,” he added.
The comment by the England skipper didn’t go down well with fans, who even labelled Stokes a ‘crybaby’ for the ‘subcontinent pitch’ remark.
What absolute rot
Sundar and Jadeja took 2/68 (21) in the fourth Innings.It was a slog because we simply couldn’t match them in the new ball stage. Admit to our failings and how well India bowled. https://t.co/PrMmxnErut
— James McCaghrey (@MccaghreyJames) July 6, 2025
Stokes could be onto something here, Birmingham does resemble the subcontinent these days but apart from that just poor excuses. https://t.co/iLVwAvqVQ5
— Scott (@Scotty__91) July 6, 2025
Don’t subcontinent pitches turn a bit more?
— Matthew Stadlen (@MatthewStadlen) July 7, 2025
Poor excuses. Not impressed
— Alejandro (@Alejando_spurs) July 6, 2025
Some Indian fans branded Stokes a ‘loser’ for making such a remark after defeat.
What a sore loser this Ben Stokes is..
Blames subcontinent pitches when England gets thrashed in India.
Blames subcontinent-like pitches when England gets thrashed in England.. @benstokes38 #ENGvIND https://t.co/3vJjqeXzPs— Dr. Shubham Misra (@Shubham_Neuro) July 7, 2025
Even former India cricketer, Aakash Chopra, expressed surprise over Stokes’ comment, highlighting how spinners dominate subcontinent pitches a lot more than they did in Edgbaston.
Only two wickets for Indian spinners in two innings. Quite interesting to call it a sub-continental pitch. https://t.co/76yNClvZa5
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) July 6, 2025
With the next Test starting in only three days’ time, it would be interesting to see what sort of pitch the hosts prepare, considering the rsult in Birmingham.
