MANCHESTER: Despite England bowling 63 overs in India's second innings on Day 5 of their fourth Test against England here at the Old Trafford Ground, their skipper Ben Stokes didn't bowl a single over. After playing a huge knock of 141 off 198 balls, Stokes decided to give some rest to his body, which might have raised a few questions over his fitness. Allaying all those concerns, the all-rounder on Sunday morning steamed in to make life difficult for India batters especially his Indian counterpart Shubman Gill.
While it was Gill, who at times, looked vulnerable against him, it was KL Rahul who fell to Stokes within the first hour of play. The gritty pacer did all these while visibly in pain as he was seen holding his right hip and rubbing his right shoulder frequently. Braving injury, Stokes bowled eight overs on a trot claiming a wicket and giving away just 12 runs.
Earlier, India resumed at 174/2 with spinner Liam Dawson opening the bowling for the hosts. Stokes joined him from the Sir James Anderson End and made the fourth ball of his first over nip back in. It stayed low too and hit Gill on his pad but caused no damage as it was going down the leg. In his next over, Gill drove a Stokes' delivery in air to short cover, where Ollie Pope attempted a leaping catch but couldn't hold on to it. The India captain then steered down a ball on his pads to fine leg for the first boundary of the day.
A few balls later Rahul tried to sweep Dawson with wicketkeeper Jamie Smith collecting the ball going down the leg stump. England thought Rahul's bat had kissed the ball and went for a review only for the third umpire to adjudge the batter not out. In the process, the hosts burnt all their three reviews. The Karnataka right-hand batter, however, was undone by an incoming ball, which remained low, by Stokes. He was only 10 shy of his much-deserved century then. The bowler didn't even look at the umpire as it hit Rahul on his knee roll and was going to hit the middle stump.
Injured Rishabh Pant was supposed to be the next batter in but it was Washington Sundar, who was sent up the order. After the wicket, Stokes was all pumped in and bowled a rising delivery in his next over that angled in and hit top of Gill's right thumb before rebounding to his helmet. Stokes was continuously angling in the bowl for the right-hand batter from the rough patches, which have been created over the past four days. Gill and Washington made sure India went into drinks without any further hiccups. They were 193/3 in 76 overs at drinks, scoring 19 runs from the first 13 overs of the day.
England took the new ball after 80 overs with Chris Woakes replacing Stokes. Jofra Archer was brought in from the other end in place of Dawson. The India captain completed his century with a single of Woakes in the 83rd over. It was his fourth century of the series and ninth overall. He broke Virat Kohli's record of three away centuries as a captain to become the first India skipper to slam four centuries in a Test series. He also equalled Sunil Gavaskar and Don Bradman's record of hitting four centuries in a Test series as a captain.
Gill, however, lost focus a few minutes before the lunch and chased an away going delivery from Archer only to get an edge which was pocketed by Smith. Ravindra Jadeja, the new batter, tried to smash a short pitched delivery the very next ball but Joe Root positioned at slip cordon despite a jump could not latch on to it. Gill's wicket also meant England went into lunch needing only six wickets for an innings win. India, meanwhile, were still trailing by 88 runs.