Merseyside Cricket Online at the Test: Indian pair’s bloodless brilliance frustrates England after Stokes ton

KL Rahul and Shubman Gill are all smiles as they leave the field
(Picture by Greig Cowie/Shutterstock)

England won’t lose this match, and therefore they won’t lose the series, and that is about the only crumb of comfort from a chastening few hours today.

A day that started well for the hosts, then looked like getting even better, ended up as their worst of the series outside of the thrashing they took at Edgbaston.

Securing a 311-run lead then taking two wickets in the first over of the reply should have lit the blue touchpaper; instead it merely brought together Shubman Gill and KL Rahul for a bloodless unbroken stand of 174 across more than 62 overs.

And with rain forecast for tomorrow morning, India are in a perfect position to save the Test when they could have been condemned to a series defeat long ago.

Take nothing away from Rahul and Gill, who batted beautifully. The only chance either gave was a flashing drive by Gill off Brydon Carse, spilled at backward point by Liam Dawson just before tea, when he was on 46.

Dawson bowled 132 balls yesterday, and 132 times he theatrically threw his hands to the sky in feigned excitement – in reality, he never looked like creating a chance as good as the one he spurned.

Against two right-handers on a wearing pitch with the field in, this should have been the slow left-armer’s chance to shine – instead, Rahul and Gill smothered everything the Hampshire man could twirl at them.

Chris Woakes, who took those two early wickets, was the pick of the seamers; by mid-afternoon, Jofra Archer and Carse were mainly used for ineffective barrages of bouncers.

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Ben Stokes, having begun the day by cantering to a century, ended it limping around the covers and did not bowl despite his first innings five-for.

Before the close, with Dawson and Joe Root bowling, Rahul swapped his helmet for a cap – both batters might as well have been in their slippers and dressing gowns, so comfortable they looked.

It had been such a different story in the morning session as Stokes, who resumed on 77, led England to their highest home total since 2011 and their fifth highest anywhere, ever.

The hosts resumed on 544/7 and after Bumrah bowled Dawson, Stokes almost edged one on 99, then kept losing the strike to Carse before finally reaching three figures with a tickle to fine leg off Mohammed Siraj. It was his 14th Test century, his second against India and his third at Emirates Old Trafford.

He also became the fourth England player, and the fourth captain of any country, to combine a ton with a five-wicket haul in the same Test.

Stokes wasn’t done – he launched Washington Sundar over long-off to go past 7,000 Test runs (and Bradman’s aggregate, for good measure), then reverse-swept four more. 

Some of Gill’s captaincy was baffling during the Durham pair’s ninth-wicket stand of 95. For Ravindra Jadeja, he posted boundary riders everywhere except at extra cover, where Stokes promptly took 10 runs off two balls.

Next over, Carse repeated the dose over the leg side off Washington. The only way a wicket was coming was off a mishit – eventually they came, with Stokes making 141 and Carse 47, to close the innings on 669.

Ben Stokes hits out on his way to 141
(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

It should have been decisive; it looked like it would be within five balls of the Indian second innings, when both Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan nicked Chris Woakes to slip.

Gill survived the hat-trick ball, and Rahul two blood-curdling appeals from Archer, before lunch came with India two down with a single run on the board. 

Two of their three first innings half-centurions were back in the shed, while the third, Rishabh Pant, has a broken foot.

But England failed to capitalise. Woakes and Archer bowled too full with the new ball, letting Gill and Rahul ease into their task with some simple drives, and Carse’s shorter length was harder to score off but mostly unthreatening.

At tea, with tomorrow’s forecast worsening, India were 82/2 and utterly serene; Gill had just clipped Joe Root for three to bring up his 50.

In the evening session, they prolonged their stand to the highest ever to begin at 0/2. As the crowd lost interest and sang about beer and darts, Rahul turned Dawson (arms in the air) behind square on the off-side to move to 50 from 141 painstaking balls.

By the end, Rahul had 87 and Gill 78 – both have centuries there for the taking tomorrow, weather permitting – and the chance to keep the series at 2-1 heading into the final Test.

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