Ind vs Eng 4th Test: KL Rahul, Shubman Gill power through pressure

Before Woakes’s two-in-two, Ben Stokes scripted another glorious chapter in a stirring career, becoming only the fourth Englishman to take five wickets and score a century in the same game to put his side in complete control of the fourth Test. Overnight 77 — he had retired hurt with cramps in his left leg when 66 before returning to bat late on the third evening — England’s exceptional leader ended a two-year wait for a Test hundred with a chanceless 141 that only ended because he was on the lookout for quick runs. 

England captain Ben Stokes celebrates his century on Saturday

Stokes lost Liam Dawson in the day’s fifth over when Jasprit Bumrah, bowling with greater fire than for most of Friday, produced a delivery that kept low and snuck on to the stumps off the under-edge. That seemed to indicate that plenty of tricks lay in store, though the fourth-day surface played better than that, evidenced by an entertaining stand of 95 for the ninth wicket between the captain and Brydon Carse. 

It wasn’t until he glanced Mohammed Siraj for four to bring up his 14th hundred did Stokes open up. He went from his century to 141 in just 34 deliveries, taking a shine to spinners Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja, who did the bulk of the bowling with Anshul Kamboj and Shardul Thakur not summoned to the bowling crease at all. 

Jadeja was rewarded for a long spell with the scalps of Stokes and Carse, both caught on the boundary line. England couldn’t have chosen a better time to lose their last wicket at 669; it gave them a 15-minute window before lunch to have a go at the Indians. 

Woakes strikes twice

Woakes needed just four deliveries to draw first blood, squaring up Jaiswal whose intended flick flew off the leading edge to first slip, where Joe Root held a smart catch on the second attempt. Sudharsan was caught in two minds, his late effort to withdraw his bat resulting in the ball lobbing to second slip. 

Gill survived the hat-trick ball, just about, as well as a confident shout for leg before off the second ball after lunch, from Jofra Archer, when still on nought. He was pinged numerous times on his pads early on as England targeted his legs, but once he settled down, he played several eye-catching strokes. He did drive distantly at Carse and was shelled at point by Liam Dawson on 46. Rahul, by contrast, was barely troubled as he extended his sequence of making at least a fifty to the fourth match in succession, though India did benefit from Stokes not having a bowl. 

112
No. of runs conceded by Jasprit Bumrah — the most by him in a Test innings

One
Ben Stokes becomes first England skipper to score a century and claim a fifer in the same Test

Brief scores
India 358 & 174-2 (KL Rahul 87*, S Gill 78*; C Woakes 2-48) vs England 669 (J Root 150, B Stokes 141, B Duckett 94, Z Crawley 84, O Pope 71, B Carse 47; R Jadeja 4-143, J Bumrah 2-112, W Sundar 2-107)