Having to win 5th T20I good preparation for T20 WC: Stokes

AHMEDABAD: It is good for England in the run-up to the 2021 T20 World Cup that the final match of their T20I series against India will decide the winner of the rubber, said all-rounder Ben Stokes. India levelled the five-match series 2-2 with an eight-run win in the 4th T20I at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

"Whoever wins that game wins the series so you know that's great for us as a team, and especially with the T20 World Cup coming up, the more pressure situations we get into as a team, the more we will benefit from it," Stokes told reporters during the post-match interaction.

"The more pressure that we get under as a team, the more that's going to do for us in that World Cup, because World Cups can end very quickly. Every game is a big game," he said.

Chasing a target of 186 on Thursday, England were pegged back by the dismissals of Jos Buttler, Dawid Malan and Jason Roy in the first nine overs. However, Stokes' 65-run partnership with Jonny Bairstow turned the match in favour of the visitors. India regained control when Bairstow fell for 25 to Rahul Chahar in the 15th over after which Shardul Thakur dismissed Stokes for 46 and captain Eoin Morgan for just four runs in the 17th over.

"Leaving that many runs for our bottom order to have to deal with obviously is less than ideal. In that situation, one of our middle-order needs to be there till the end to get it over the line. It's always more frustrating when you feel like you've got the game in your hands," said Stokes.

"Rather than going away and being too down on myself you got to look at these things and assess them and learn from them. You know we've got a T20 World Cup coming up and there's no doubt it will put in a similar situation at some point in that tournament so these are all great learning experiences for us as players," he added. IANS

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