Manchester, July 26 A double-strike from Chris Woakes, after England skipper Ben Stokes smashed his 14th Test century, has left India in all sorts of trouble at lunch on day four of fourth Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Stokes hit 141 off 198 balls, his first Test century since 2023 Ashes, as England posted 669 in 157.1 overs and took a first innings lead of 311 runs. For India, Ravindra Jadeja took four wickets while Washington Sundar had two scalps in a largely ineffective bowling performance.
Jasprit Bumrah conceded above 100 runs in a Test match for the first time while Mohammed Siraj, debutant Anshul Kamboj and Shardul Thakur were largely ineffective. Woakes then dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal and B Sai Sudharsan for ducks in 15 minutes before the lunch break, as India reached 1/2 in three overs.
With KL Rahul (one not out) and skipper Shubman Gill at the crease, India are trailing by 310 runs and have only seven wickets plus Rishabh Pant with a broken right foot to dig very deep and attempt to take this match into day five. England, meanwhile, will eye to wrap the proceedings in two sessions and take an unassailable series lead.
Coming from round the wicket angle, Woakes struck in the opening over when he got one to shape away enough and take the leading edge of Yashasvi Jaiswal, which was brilliantly caught by one-handed Joe Root going low to his right at slip.
One brought two for Woakes as B Sai Sudharsan initially tried leaving the ball, but the ball took bottom edge of the bat and was caught by Harry Brook at second slip. Rahul and Gill saw off the rest of the deliveries before the session ended firmly in England’s favour.
Previously, the session began with Stokes punching and playing perfect cover drive off Mohammed Siraj for a brace of boundaries, before Liam Dawson pulled him for another four. Bumrah then struck by getting one to skid through Dawson's defences and smashed the top of off-stump, as the batter fell for 26.
With Brydon Carse crunching Bumrah for two fours, Stokes reached the three-figure mark by flicking Siraj for four to bring up his first Test hundred in more than two years. He celebrated it with a fist bump before looking up to the sky, with his folded finger raised to give a tribute to his father Ged.
With India spreading the field out, Carse was building the score with singles and hitting the occasional boundary. Stokes, on the other hand, danced down the pitch to hit Washington Sundar for six, before reverse sweeping him for four. He then timed the backfoot drive off Ravindra Jadeja for four, before hitting him over long-off for six.
Carse joined the fun by slogging Sundar for four and six respectively, before Stokes smashed Jadeja over long-off for another maximum. But in a bid to repeat it off Jadeja, Stokes mistimed the shot and holed out to long-on. England’s innings finally ended when Carse went for the slog-sweep off Jadeja, but holed out in the deep.
Brief Scores: India 358 & 1/2 in three overs (KL Rahul one not out; Chris Woakes 2-0) trail England 669 in 157.1 overs (Joe Root 150, Ben Stokes 141; Ravindra Jadeja 4-143, Washington Sundar 2-107) by 310 runs
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