Ben Stokes stretched the contours of a ‘allrounder’ somewhere along the line. In addition to being a batter, bowler, and fielder, he is also a mood-setter, crowd-conductor, and field-puppeteer. After delivering the ball, he can either halt dead in his tracks and turn without saying anything to get in more overs, or he can follow through until he is nose to nose with the batter. When the day isn’t moving forward, he can hit someone directly from cover. or bowl sessions of nine and ten overs.
However, this wall is not static. It rushes in their direction, its hair flying, its arms pumping, its eyes narrowing. A wall that hunts, chirps, and shapes stories. A wonderwall. It makes sense because Oasis was performing their biggest hit in Manchester just four days before. It was now time for England’s own wonderwall, Ben Stokes.
India had established a strong foundation on the first day at Old Trafford. On a cloudy morning, they had lost the toss, but KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal remained steadfast. Though it never quite made it to the edge, the ball moved. It didn’t carry when it did. It was a section that could have raised enquiries. Was the pitch misread by Ben Ben Stokes? Had history dictated that England should have batted first?
However, the bowlers’ inability to find the edge-taking length was mostly to blame. Consequently, England went wicketless throughout the first session of a home Test for the first time since Ashes 2015. Just a little bit, perhaps. However, it hung in the balance of a match and a series.
England saw what they had missed in the first session when play resumed under similar circumstances. KL Rahul trailed slightly. Then Liam Dawson got Jaiswal with plenty of drift and overspin. All of a sudden, Sai Sudharsan, their new No. 3 player, and India’s outstanding captain Shubman Gill were at the crease. It was the kind of moment that keeps happening in this series, a mini-shift that is only waiting to grow into something bigger.
At such point, Ben Stokes the bowler is typically called for by the captain.
His current billing as England’s fourth seamer is almost ludicrous. He’s taken 13 wickets so far in this series, more than any other England quick, and he’s the only one who averages less than thirty. Although they are telling, the figures don’t fully reflect his contributions. There is mood in his spells. The contest crackles in your ears. The crowd is becoming tighter.
The game in Manchester required animation. Ben Stokes complied.
He only required three deliveries to dismiss Gill, a hitter he had never dismissed in Test cricket. The Indian captain was tilted by a length ball that came from wide of the crease. Gill fatally took up arms. Someone hit the pad. The finger rose. That would have sufficed. The combat with Sudharsan, however, was the actual theatre.
The two already had history together, even though this was only the 23-year-old’s third innings in Test cricket. Stokes had discovered a technical gap at Leeds. Depending on your point of view, some people may refer to these dismissals as lucky or unlucky. However, Stokes took advantage of Sudharsan’s propensity to trip twice when playing through the leg side. He ought to have had him the same manner again today. However, Jamie Smith gave away the opportunity.
Stokes didn’t dwell on it. He restarted. What came next was a period of in-depth, almost intimate analysis. 18 of the 32 deliveries he bowled to Sudharsan were dug in as he started to bombard him with short balls. Stokes clapped in Sudharsan’s face after he pulled the first one, just three balls after Gill was dismissed. The field narrowed: a figure behind the helmet, a leg gully. Stokes looked down at him after he fumbled the next ball and it went short.
Nevertheless, Sudharsan answered. Yes, he did appear scratchy, but he took it in. He occasionally counterpunched, but none were as elegant as Jofra Archer’s front-foot pull that roared through midwicket. He was still at odds with the England captain, though.
Another moment emerged when Rishabh Pant was carted off with a foot injury late in the day’s play. Once more, Stokes was the first to see it. He went back to hitting short balls. One ascended steeply this time, higher than Sudharsan had expected. This first-day pitch was throwing up, which was a component of the inconsistent bounce. Sudharsan made a mistake although still devoted to the pull. They took the catch. It was a primordial roar. At last the trap had sprung.
To his credit, Sudharsan recognised the beauty in everything. “In actuality, I thoroughly enjoyed the event. Because you are batting there and giving the team your best effort while the nation’s finest bowler is coming in and attempting to strike you hard. You can’t get a better sensation than that,” he remarked. Yes, he lost the war, but he wore it with pride.
India had previously encountered Stokes. But it doesn’t make him any less difficult to deal with. He continues to change. He comes back for another over, another opportunity, just when you think you’ve had him. At the age of 34, he is managing captaincy and guiding a bowling group that is undergoing change. In addition, he recently had surgery, but he has already bowled 119 overs in this series, more than in any Test series in his career, including the 116.5 he bowled in the 2013–14 Ashes when he was just 22.
India has started the Test match brilliantly, but it is now obvious that they will need to climb the wonderwall that continues coming their way in order to gain an opportunity.
India
