Ben Stokes is continuing his good form with the ball in this series. He has bowled the most overs in a Test series for him.
On the first day of the fourth Test, Stokes took 2 for 47 in 14 overs. He got the big wickets, Gill for 12 and Sai Sudharsan who had scored 61. He bowled 5 overs to start the day, 4 overs in the middle and 5 to finish the day.
He is yet to score a big one with the bat, 163 runs in 6 innings at 27.16 and a highest of 44. But he has been England’s best bowler. He leads the wicket charts with 13 wickets at 28.53 in 7 innings, best figures of 4/66. He has bowled 119.0 overs, his most in a Test series. This is more than his 116.5 overs against Australia in the 2013-14 Ashes series (8 innings, away) and 116.2 overs (8 innings) against India in the 2018 series at home.
The numbers don’t tell the full story. While his wicket count may not always be the highest, he has put in a lot of work despite his recent fitness issues. He has got the wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Gill, Karun Nair, KL Rahul and Sai Sudharsan, all top order batsmen.
A fit Stokes, contributing with the bat and bowling consistently is good news for England as they head into an Ashes series in Australia this November.One of his best performances was on the final day of the third Lord’s Test. He bowled almost 10 overs in a row and got the big wicket of KL Rahul. Bowling with Jofra Archer, they reduced India to 82/7 in a 193 run chase. Later when Ravindra Jadeja was fighting with Jasprit Bumrah, Stokes brought England back into the game, ending a 35 run partnership where Bumrah faced 54 balls and Jadeja was allowed to play freely. At Lord’s he bowled 44 overs and took 5 wickets. Along with his 44 and 33 and a great run out of Rishabh Pant, he won the ‘Player of the Match’ award.
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India finished the day at 264/4 with Shardul Thakur (19*) and Ravindra Jadeja (16*). Rishabh Pant who retired hurt at 37 due to a foot injury was a big blow for India. Half centuries from Sai Sudharsan (61 in 151 balls, 7 fours) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (58 in 107 balls, 10 fours, 1 six) were the highlights of the day.
Stokes (2/47) was the top bowler, got the wickets of Shubman Gill and Sudharsan.
