When will Ben Stokes bowl? Or will he return from the India tour without having played any role as a bowler? The question was regularly raised ahead of the start of each Test between India and England of the ongoing five-match series.
Every time, England remained coy, not willing to reveal if Stokes was indeed feeling fit enough to resume bowling duties having undergone a surgery on his knee last year before making his return via the India tour.
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Stokes hadn’t bowled for nine months but he ended the wait in spectacular fashion on the second day of the ongoing fifth Test between India and England in Dharamsala.
He produced what Sanjay Manjrekar on air termed as a ‘magic ball’ – angled in to Rohit Sharma and it seamed away just enough to skip past the outside edge and crash onto the off-stump. Stokes had dismissed centurion Rohit with his first delivery of the series.
“He’s (Stokes) a freak,” said England assistant coach Jeetan Patel during a post-match interaction with the reports in Dharamsala on Friday. “It was almost written in the stars that he was going to bowl a jaffa first up and get Rohit Sharma out who was on 100. We all know how we can round our attack out, especially in conditions like these where you’ve usually got two spinners, two seamers and then you want your third in Stokesy.”
“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 for him. I’m sure he’ll rest up tonight, get some ice on it and see where it fronts tomorrow,” he added.
With Stokes taking the ball, even England dressing room was surprised.
“A little bit of amazement, a little bit written in the stars, a lot of people laughing. It’s quite funny because he came on to bowl when the English crowds are waking up – they’re flicking on the TV and the first thing they see is Ben Stokes bowling a really good delivery to Rohit Sharma,” Patel said.
“It’s so nice to see him back; he’s got better and better with his bowling skills (in the nets) over the tour so that’s a huge positive for us. There’s a lot of cricket to be played this year so it will be nice to have him back at the crease,” he added.
Stokes’ bowling might have been a good news for England but India have maintained their grip over the fifth Test after another dominant display. In response to England’s first innings total of 218-all out, India ended Day 2 on 473/8, extending their lead to 255.
However, Patel is positive.
“We’ll have to get these two wickets first. Once we get them, we can work out where the game is at. By the end of tomorrow, we should work out what sort position the game’s in and where we can possibly take it,” Patel said.
“We’re relentlessly positive and we’re going to have use that again tomorrow and the day after that. It was hard day, a grafting day. We thought the wicket might offer a bit more this morning and it didn’t really – maybe the older ball got soft. The boys worked really, really hard and they got their rewards at the end of it,” he added.
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