India and England last met on the cricket strip during the 2019 World Cup group stage encounter. It was a must-win game for Eoin Morgan-led England to keep their semi-finals hopes’ alive whereas Virat Kohli-led Men in Blue were eyeing to maintain their unbeaten run in the showpiece event back then.
It was the 38th match of the 10-nation tournament and many expected it to go down the wire given the form and reputation of both sides. Batting first, England rode on Jonny Bairstow’s scintillating 111 along with half-centuries from Jason Roy (66) and Ben Stokes 79 to post 337 for 7.
In reply, Rohit Sharma’s 102 and Kohli’s 66 kept India in the run-chase before they fell short by 31 runs; being restricted for 306 for 5. However, it was Kohli’s comments criticising Edgbaston’s boundaries which hogged the limelight during the post-match presentation ceremony.
He had stated, “If batsmen are able to reverse sweep, sweep you for a six on a 59-meter boundary you can’t do much as a spinner. They had to be smarter with their lines as it was difficult to contain runs with one short boundary.”
Kohli’s comments came after his bowlers, primarily the spinners, found it tough to maintain pressure against the big-hitters of England due to the shorter boundaries. However, Stokes recently expressed his opinions in this regard in his book, titled ‘Ben Stokes on Fire’.
Stokes replied to Kohli by saying, “… it was weird to hear India captain Kohli whingeing about the size of the boundaries at the post-match presentation ceremony. I have never heard such a bizarre complaint after a match. It’s actually the worst complaint you could ever make.”
