Having won the toss at Lord's on Thursday, England made good progress to reduce India to 145-7 just after tea, only for the tourists to close on 290-9.
Ajinkya Rahane struck a superb 103 off 154 balls to help guide India away from trouble as England's bowlers struggled to finish the job.
However, Stokes did not feel the home attack did much wrong, even though they failed to take full advantage of a green, first-day wicket.
The 23-year-old was pleased with his own figures of 1-40 from 17 overs, and praised the efforts of the five-man bowling unit.
"We got ourselves into brilliant position, but their tail wagged a bit," Stokes told Sky Sports. "Credit to Rahane, he played a really good knock.
"I thought we were unfortunate with a few play-and-misses and nicks through the slips, but hopefully our luck will turn.
"I don’t think we were too far from where we want to bowl, if I was going to be critical maybe we bowled too wide.
"When the ball is moving like was today maybe we could have thrown it fuller but I thought as a unit we were great today.
"Hopefully we get this last one and the lads can pile it (runs) on tomorrow."