Ben Stokes’s horror run with the bat in the Test series in India came to an end as the England captain was out bowled for 2 in his final innings in the fifth Test in Dharamsala. Stokes was dismissed by R Ashwin as the England captain survived only 10 deliveries in England’s final innings on Saturday morning.
It was all talk, but no substance from Ben Stokes in the 5-Test series as the touring captain managed to make just 199 runs despite playing as a specialist batter in the all-important series. Stokes finished the series with a run of scores that only kept worsening: 70, 5, 47, 11, 41, 15, 3, 4, 0, 2. | Dharamsala Test, India vs England: Scorecard |
Stokes managed just 2 runs in the fifth and final Test as he was undone by a Kuldeep Yadav googly in the first innings and an R Ashwin straighter one in the final innings. Barring the first Test in Hyderabad where Stokes chipped in with a 70, Stokes has failed to step up when the team needed him the most.
While choosing not to bowl after having recovered from knee surgery following the World Cup last year, it was baffling to see Ben Stokes not take more responsibility with the bat by batting higher-up the order. In most of his 10 innings, Stokes left himself with a lot to do as the England batting unit’s frailties and inability to defend well was exposed by the high-quality Indian attack.
More often than not, Ben Stokes was not sure of whether to defend or attack and died wondering against the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, R Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav.
Incidentally, it was the 13th time R Ashwin dismissed Ben Stokes The Indian off-spinner scripted a new record for most dismissals against a batter in Tests, going past Kapil Dev’s tally of 12 against Pakistan’s Mudassar Nazar.
Stokes bowled for the first time in the series on Friday and managed to get the big wicket of Rohit Sharma, the India captain who was batting on 103, but his impact with the ball came a bit too late as England had already conceded an unbeatable 3-1 lead.
England’s final innings in the Test series unraveled quickly as they lost 5 wickets for just 103 in the first session on Day 3 of the 5th Test in Dharamsala. While James Anderson got to his 700th wicket on Saturday morning, R Ashwin ran through the England batting order, picking up 4 wickets, including three with the new ball.
Jonny Bairstow, playing his 100th Test, came up with a glimpse of counter-attack. However, the England star was dismissed by Kuldeep Yadav, who continued to shine in the Test series.
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