England captain Ben Stokes has joined the likes of Imran Khan, Mushtaq Mohammed, Gary Sobers and Denis Atkinson to take a hundred and claim a fifer in the same Test. The seam-bowling all-rounder achieved the feat against Team India on day four of the fourth Test at Old Trafford in Manchester and became the first England captain to do so.
The 34-year-old followed his lion-hearted bowling performance at the Lord's with another sensational bowling outing at Old Trafford. Stokes dismissed Shubman Gill, Shardul Thakur, B Sai Sudharsan, Washington Sundar and Anshul Kamboj to claim the five-wicket haul. The veteran reached the three-figure score against Mohammed Siraj with a boundary in the fine-leg region.
Pakistan's Imran Khan was the last captain to score a hundred and claim a 5fer in a Test innings.
England lose Liam Dawson early on day four but England's lead comfortably cross 300
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The hosts had lost Liam Dawson for 26 early in the day as Jasprit Bumrah produced a jaffa to knock him over. Nevertheless, Stokes motored along quite well and played some outrageous shots to accelerate the innings, thereby enhancing the lead. The seam-bowling all-rounder also reached 7000 Test runs in the process.
Stokes had been dismissed by Washington Sundar for 141 off 198 deliveries as B Sai Sudharsan took a good catch. The hosts had eventually been dismissed for 669, holding a mammoth lead of 311 runs. Hence, India must bat out of their skins to salvage a draw in Manchester since a win looks massively out of equation.
England's first innings arguably belonged to Joe Root, who made 150 and crossed Ricky Ponting's tally of 13378 runs, thereby becoming the second-highest run-getter in Test behind Sachin Tendulkar. The home side currently hold a lead of 2-1 in the five-Test series.
