Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Stokes takes a wicket but India in total command
they’re flicking on the TV and the first thing they see is Ben Stokes bowling a really good delivery to Rohit Sharma.”
Stokes has played as a batsman for the past eight months and had surgery in November to remove a bone spur and reinforce his meniscus with stitches to try to resolve a longstanding left knee issue.
He had made a “pinky promise” with England’s physiotherapist Ben Davies not to bowl on this tour, but he has progressed well enough in his recovery and been operating at full tilt in practice recently.
Having teased the possibility of resuming his all-rounder status in recent weeks, the England captain broke his vow to Davies and showed he was worth the wait but barely acknowledged his breakthrough.
Patel added: “It was nice to see him back at the crease but we’ve just got to be careful we don’t push him too far, it’s still early days. It’s exciting to see him support the bowlers on a day where it’s a hard slog.”
England’s hopes of a consolation win to end the series with a 3-2 loss steadily slipped away yesterday, with the efforts of Rohit and Gill added to by debutant Devdutt Padikkal (65) and Sarfaraz Khan (56).
All of India’s top five made fiftyplus scores, but they lurched from 376 for three to 428 for eight as Shoaib Bashir and Tom Hartley made inroads, plugging away despite toiling for much of the day.
Somerset off-spinner Bashir was tireless and claimed four for 170, while slow left-armer Hartley was similarly resolute and snared Ravi Jadeja and Ravi Ashwin in the same over in his two for 126.