England all-rounder Ben Stokes, who endured a highly forgettable World T20 final in India earlier this year, smashes superb 128 to become third century-maker in the innings as visitors dominate Day Two of Saurashtra's debut Test
England all-rounder Ben Stokes plays a shot on the second day of the first Test match at Saurashtra CA Stadium in Rajkot yesterday. Pic/PTI
England all-rounder Ben Stokes plays a shot on the second day of the first Test match at Saurashtra CA Stadium in Rajkot yesterday. Pic/PTI
India avoided any further danger, finishing on 63-0 at stumps on Day Two of the first Test after England piled up 537 at the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) Stadium in Khanderi yesterday. England have now registered their third highest score in the sub-continent. They earlier notched up scores of 652 (in Chennai 1984-85) and 589 (Kanpur 1963-64).
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Openers Murali Vijay and Gautam Gambhir were batting on 25 and 28 respectively when stumps were drawn after England buried India with three individual tons from Joe Root (124), Moeen Ali (117) and Ben Stokes (128). The visitors' effort was further boosted by some sloppy Indian fielding for the second day in a row.
Congratulatory messages for Stokes are flooding Twitter. And why not? He is slowly developing into a top-notch all-rounder for the England side. After the day's play, he took time out to tweet: "Thanks for all the messages, appreciate them all...shout out to @root66 and @MoeenAli on 2 great 100s."
In another Tweet soon after that he posted few betting tickets and wrote: "Great day for @englandcricket, well played to @MoeenAli on another class innings...anybody want to go half's we will probably win? #cat."
Win or lose, Stokes has undoubtedly played a very crucial innings here. Coming to bat at the fall of Joe Root's wicket, Stokes remained unbeaten on 19 at the close on Day One and went on to score 128 in 253 balls with 13 fours and two sixes. At the close of Day One, Root said that England was looking at a 500-plus total to put pressure on the hosts. So, after Moeen Ali's departure early yesterday morning when the team's total was 442, England's fortune depended not only on how Stokes played, but also how he carried the tail along.
It was Stokes' brilliant all-round performance which helped England beat Bangladesh in the first Test of an ill-tempered series in Chittagong just a fortnight ago. He bagged six wickets, including two in three balls, and scored 103 runs to pave England's win there. Yesterday in Rajkot, Stokes first added 62 runs with Ali for the fifth wicket, then added 99 with Jonny Bairstow for the sixth wicket and went on to add 52 more runs with Zafar Ansari for the ninth wicket which eventually helped England cross the 500-run mark. "Stokes is our main all-rounder. I think we're going to see so much of him with different innings in his career," Ali said.
"We saw in Cape Town how he played earlier this year (258 against South Africa), we've seen him grind out a hundred and also play a smart innings. Today was perfect. I know he chanced his arm a little bit but when you play with that freedom and a fearless approach you'll get away with it a lot more. He's becoming a fantastic all-rounder," added Ali.
Even India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja agreed: "I think Stokes played a very mature and calm innings. Initially he was struggling a bit against Umesh Yadav, but after that, he played very calmly."
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