England were beaten by an innings and 65 runs at Mount Maunganui on Monday as the hosts took a 1-0 lead in the two match series.
“The pressures of being England Test captain are huge. It can be one of the most criticised jobs in England... sometimes unfairly,” all-rounder Stokes told BBC’s Test Match Special.
“There are 11 guys on the field that contribute to a win or loss. It doesn’t all fall on the captain.”
Root’s form has also come under scrutiny since he was named full-time test skipper in 2017 and the 28-year-old, who has not scored a century since February, said the pressure of captaincy was not an excuse for his batting woes.
“He’s England’s best player and he knows he has got the full support of us in the changing room,” Stokes added.
“We put our hands up as players when we don’t perform as well and unfortunately Joe cops most of that. But as a playing group, we stick together and we hold our hands up together.”
Stokes said England would not be distracted by the departure of coach Chris Silverwood, who will return home after day two of the second test starting on Friday, due to a family bereavement.
“Family always comes first, no matter where you are in the world or a situation a team finds itself in,” Stokes added.
“We do all the tactical analysis so, once we get going, the onus will be on the players. Chris going home won’t be a distraction to us.”
Meanwhile, fast bowler Jofra Archer has said the racial abuse directed at him by a fan at the end of the first Test was a “real shame” but that he has moved on from the incident.
The 24-year-old, who was born in Barbados and represented West Indies at Under-19 level, tweeted on Monday that he had found it “a bit disturbing” to hear racial insults coming from one person in the crowd while he was batting.
The England and New Zealand cricket boards are investigating the incident and Archer received an apology from New Zealand Cricket chief David White, while New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has also said he will apologise to the bowler.
“The first thing I want to say about what happened towards the end of the test at Mount Maunganui is that I’m over it,” Archer wrote in a column in Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper.
“I’ve left what happened at the ground and I’ve moved on. I should also say it was just one person who was shouting stuff. But I found the incident a real shame.”
&uuid=(email))