After a match that witnessed a record 1692 runs being scored on arguably one of the flattest pitches served out in the country in the 21st century, England captain Ben Stokes said the Edgbaston strip ended up suiting India more, progressively displaying “sub-continent” traits before their 336-run defeat on day five in Birmingham on Sunday.

England’s Bazballers were eventually exposed, not just by the sheer weight of runs India amassed – the 1014 runs in two innings being the highest-ever recorded by the side in 591 Tests. The glaring gulf between the pace attacks of both teams meant India had enough quality in their attack to pick up all 20 wickets, becoming only the second team in Test history, after Australia (in 1938 and 1969), to register 1000 runs and pick up all 20 wickets in a match. Led by Akash Deep’s 10-wicket match haul and Mohammed Siraj’s first-innings six-for, India seamers picked up 17 wickets to England pacer’s eight in the match.

When quizzed on the Test Match Special, if England wanted to continue playing on such flat-bed surfaces, Stokes countered that the conditions ended up mirroring pitches in India, which suited the visitors.

“To be honest, it’s probably ended up being more of a subcontinent pitch as it got deeper and deeper into the game. There was certainly a little bit in it to start with, and I think we exposed that very well early on,” said Stokes.

“Then just as it sort of got deeper and deeper, it just became a real tough slug for us and obviously with the Indian attack and the conditions that they’re used to, they were sort of used to and knew sort of how to expose those conditions just sort of a little bit better than us and that can happen sometimes. But yeah, it’s nothing to be too disheartened about. We can take being out-skilled, and we’ve certainly been out-skilled this week,” said Stokes.  England head coach Brendon McCullum, meanwhile, rued the team’s decision to bowl first.