One other week, one other Test, one other riveting climax.
Resisting England for 143 overs, that too after finding themselves 0-2 in the primary over, India’s batters denied Ben Stokes’ side victory on the ultimate day at Old Trafford to salvage a draw.
This is barely the second draw since Stokes has taken over as full-time captain, with the previous occurrence coming at the identical ground against Australia two years ago.
It was a match which, unsurprisingly, saw records tumble across either side – the theme for this five-Test series.
From Joe Root to Stokes, and from Shubman Gill to KL Rahul, the statisticians were left purring over again.
England dominated for 3 and a half days before the tables swiftly turned within the last day and a half, prompting the exaltation of England’s efforts in the primary and second innings to devolve to exasperation within the third.
But the largest talking point of the match got here within the fixture’s final moments, and was one other divisive milestone on this England team’s story.
Cricket Paper author Mohan Harihar reflects on the Old Trafford Test and assesses where each teams stand ahead of the series finale at The Oval.
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Root faces Test batting’s final frontier as he sets sights on Tendulkar
On day three, England’s number 4 created history.
In scoring his thirty eighth Test ton (150), he equalled Sri Lankan stalwart Kumar Sangakkara.
The one men with more Test lots of are Ricky Ponting (41), Jacques Kallis (45) and Sachin Tendulkar (51).
Root proceeded to leapfrog Rahul Dravid (13,288), Jacques Kallis (13,289) and Ponting (13,378) to complete the match on 13,409 Test runs – 2,512 away from Tendulkar’s aggregate of 15,921.
On the enviable stage of his profession where a brand new record appears to be broken with every swish of his blade, Root looks set to provide ‘The Little Master’ an actual run for his money.
Still only 34, his appetite for scoring runs stays insatiable and his child-like enthusiasm for the game’s hardest format continues to encourage.
And with a game suited to all conditions, the hurdles stopping Root from attaining Test batting’s most distinguished prize are few and much between.
Statistically, batting excellence to unequivocally rival the sport’s biggest – those of the ilk of Tendulkar, Ponting, Brian Lara and Kallis – has historically evaded England, for one reason or one other.
First there was Sir Alastair Cook, who finished with 12,472 runs – the very best ever for a gap batter.
Now in Joe Root, England have a second, and a real middle-order great of their very own.
Who knows what lies ahead of Root?
But for now, it’s time for the nation, and cricketing world, to proudly have a good time the person who only sits behind arguably the sport’s most complete batter.
Perhaps soon, we are going to see England’s finest achieve the unthinkable, and the undreamable.
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Ben Stokes does all of it, again
If Lord’s was a peek into the all-round goods England’s captain had to supply, Old Trafford was the complete reveal.
A series that has been a graveyard for fast bowlers has not deterred Stokes from bowling his heart out.
And for all his efforts, he was finally rewarded in bulk – a five-wicket haul for the primary time in eight years.
His 5-72 was an exhibition of resilience and well-executed strategy in an innings which saw jaded contributions from his peers.
The skipper’s spell was a reminder of the calibre of bowler he’s when his body is attuned to the rhythms of Test cricket and his muscles, ligaments and tendons could be trusted.
Frustratingly for him, his restricted workload within the third innings owing to a right-bicep niggle raised concerns about his welfare, but Stokes was quick to shoo these away.
He said: ‘It’s my bicep tendon. It’s had quite a lot of workload through it. It’s quite a lot of time in the center doing my job. It didn’t get any worse.
‘Hopefully it settles down and might be nearly as good as gold for the last game.’
Most pleasing to see was a return to form with the bat.
His 141 in England’s solitary innings of 669 all out had shades of the Stokes of old, including his customary celebratory salute to his old man.
In achieving Test cricket’s coveted double – 100 and five-wicket haul in the identical match – he became only the fourth Englishman to achieve this.
Stokes also entered esteemed company – Sir Garfield Sobers and Jacques Kallis – as one among only three all-rounders to attain 7000+ runs and 200+ wickets in Test cricket.
Consistency is probably not Stokes’ closest ally, but his ability to string together performances on par with the sport’s premier all-rounders on his day proves why England proceed to lean on him when the warmth is on.
READ MORE: Ben Stokes having fun with ‘top quality’ games between England and India despite draw
Gill and Rahul spare India’s blushes, Jadeja and Sundar toy with England
Losing a 14th consecutive coin toss, being inserted to bat and conceding 669 runs could have been enough to suggest to the Indian faithful that their team’s fortunes at Manchester were doomed from the beginning.
And if that was not the sentiment on the close of the second innings, seeing India 0-2 in the primary over of the third innings – 311 runs behind – would have done the trick.
But to make use of a term coined by the Gen Z subpopulation, into which most of the current Indian squad fall, this side is ‘built different‘.
They’re hungry, immovable and unafraid to scrap – qualities a certain Virat Kohli can be happy with.
Captain Gill regaled fans with one other sumptuous display of strokeplay, equipped with picture-perfect cover-drives and on-drives.
Despite an already impressive series résumé, his 103 took the cake. It was an innings characterised by maturity and true captain’s grit to right the wrongs of Lord’s.
He now sits on 722 runs for the tour – 52 runs away from essentially the most runs by an Indian player in a Test series, a record currently held by Sunil Gavaskar (774 against the West Indies in 1971).
Gill’s 188-run stand with KL Rahul (90), who once more stood firm at the highest, steered India to calmer waters.
‘The partnership Rahul and I had ignited the spark’, India’s captain said.
Nevertheless, the wickets of each Rahul and Gill saw India’s outlook grow bleak, particularly with an out-of-commission Rishabh Pant.
Thankfully for India, Ravindra Jadeja was able to take up the fight, picking up from where he left off at Lord’s.
With 454 runs at a median of 113.50 for the tour to this point, England again had no answers to shift India’s MVP from the crease.
He fended off short balls, saw out spin and endured the pressure of the ultimate day to banish the demons from Lord’s where India stumbled on the finish line.
Jadeja found support in Washington Sundar.
Earlier within the match Gill’s tactics were questioned when he introduced Sundar, who got 4-22 within the second innings at Lord’s, into the bowling attack 67 overs into England’s innings.
With the ball Sundar immediately had an effect dismissing Ollie Pope and Harry Brook, proving India had missed a trick.
In contrast, he was given a rare promotion to number five with the bat.
His 203-run stand with Jadeja (107*) washed away any hopes England had to drag off a miracle, as he finished on 101*, his first Test century.
Dawson returns to Test cricket, but what do England need from him?
On the back of a fracture to Shoaib Bashir’s left hand, Hampshire’s Liam Dawson was recalled to the Test side after eight long years within the domestic wilderness.
Much was fabricated from his return, not least his seniority over young Bashir who’s learning on the job.
His comeback as an entire matched expectations, albeit slightly underwhelming with the ball.
At Old Trafford he showed great control to ably support the quicks and demonstrated himself to be a capable Test batter within the lower order, scoring 26.
But with the ball, his match returns of 1-140 from 62 overs lacked the spark Stokes hoped to see.
Specifically, on a somewhat worn pitch on day five, Dawson was ineffective.
He rarely hit what little rough there was outside the left-hander’s off stump, and was seen recurrently embroiled in animated exchanges with captain, Ben Stokes, about bowling plans.
It could be harsh to guage anyone on a single match, that too after such an extended time away from the harshest of climates at the highest level.
That said, despite Dawson’s thorough understanding of his craft, the tip result was not dissimilar to the offerings of Bashir.
Much of Dawson’s future in an England shirt may hinge on what England want from their spinner.
Are England still desirous about physical attributes – height in Bashir’s case – and wickettaking potential?
Or will they be content with a spinner who can reliably tie an find yourself to permit the team’s ever-expanding pace battery to rotate and operate?
If the job description resembles the latter, Dawson matches the mold, who went at an economy rate of just 2.26 for the match.
It’s a conversation that may change into more pertinent beyond the subsequent Test at The Oval, where conditions are prone to be batter-friendly yet again.
With an Ashes series Down Under on the horizon, England’s management of Dawson and Bashir, and the way they view spin as an entire, might be interesting to follow.
The handshake, and matters of cricketing morality
With the ultimate hour commencing – and 138 long overs into the legs of England’s bowlers – Ben Stokes walked over to the umpires and Ravindra Jadeja with the offer of a handshake.
Stokes and this Bazball regime are averse to the draw, and they’ll you’ll want to let you recognize about it.
Once it looked like essentially the most distant of wins was now not on the cards, England’s captain was able to let the sport rest.
Nevertheless, India’s essential men from the last two sessions had other ideas.
Sitting on 89* off 173 balls and 80* off 188 balls respectively, Jadeja and Washington Sundar had accomplished their first mission – to secure the draw.
All that was left was to savour the moment, and savour the moment they did.
For all its convolutions and idiosyncrasies, cricket still carries with it a large portion of grey area; navigating the terrain as a match peters to a draw is one such grey area.
In this example, there isn’t a hard and fast rule, and the ultimate decision relies on the mutual understanding of each teams.
At Old Trafford, this was a rare instance where negotiations fell through.
‘When you wanted 100 you need to have batted prefer it earlier, ‘ said Jofra Archer.
‘We’ll bowl bouncers at you if you happen to want’, added Zak Crawley.
‘How long do you wish, an hour? ‘But then it really works that you simply [Jadeja] get to a 100, he [Sundar] gets to 90 after which we’ve got to attend for him’, Ben Duckett chirped.
It was a display of frustration and churlishness from the hosts in a sour final act.
Much of the Test was spent lauding the records of Joe Root and Ben Stokes. Now India’s all-rounders, particularly Sundar who was searching for a maiden Test ton, were ready to enjoy a moment of their very own after avoiding what looked a sure-defeat on day 4.
‘Ten more runs wasn’t going to vary the incontrovertible fact that you’ve managed to get your team out of a really, very tricky situation’, Stokes explained.
It just isn’t the primary time this England side has appeared to adopt the role of self-proclaimed arbiters of ‘right’ and ‘mistaken’; the 2023 Ashes series was an exhibition of such narratives.
Much comes all the way down to Stokes’ outlook on draws. While he may not see the worth in them, other teams around the globe do.
A well-earned draw, reminiscent of on this Test, boosts the boldness of players and the team. It teaches you something about yourself. It shifts momentum, and tactically, wears out the opposition in an extended series.
Had India compromised a win within the pursuit of individual milestones, a unique conversation can be had.
But because it transpired on Sunday evening, Jadeja and Sundar did no mistaken by spending an additional five overs putting the cherry on top of their match-saving efforts.
The ultimate showdown awaits at The Oval, but who will the bowlers be?
After 4 Tests which have all gone all the way down to the ultimate session of the ultimate day, the 2 teams which have given us a lot must front up yet one more time.
Only a few questions linger across the batters on either side.
England remain settled and staunch within the backing of their batting unit; runs for Crawley and Pope at Old Trafford have done them no harm.
India recalled Sai Sudharsan for the number three slot instead of Karun Nair – Sudharsan’s first-innings 61 should see him keep his position.
Narayan Jagadeesan, the Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper, has been called as much as the Test squad as a substitute for Rishabh Pant.
He might be a back-up for Dhruv Jurel, who kept wickets at Lord’s and Old Trafford as an alternative to Pant.
The highlight might be on the bowling units of either side; getting 20 wickets stays the last word goal at The Oval where the pitch is predicted to be one other batting delight.
England have played Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse and captain Stokes for 4 Tests in a row.
Stokes may be tempted to play a tried-and-tested attack yet one more time in a bid to seal the series.
In any case, ‘pain is just an emotion’, as Stokes put it.
The priority lies within the injury histories of Archer – coming back after 4 years – and Stokes, who again showed signs of discomfort with various ailing body parts.
England might be smart to contemplate replacing one among Archer or Carse, the latter of whom has been managing a hard toe injury, in favour of Gus Atkinson or Jamie Overton.
These options provide much-needed freshness with the ball while preserving batting depth down the order; Atkinson scored his maiden Test hundred last 12 months while Overton scored 97 in his only Test appearance back in 2022.
The hosts might want to lean on Dawson to perform the donkey work because the quicks take shifts with the ball.
For India, the Jasprit Bumrah selection conundrum still looms large over captain Gill and coach Gambhir.
Despite a rare poor outing at Old Trafford through which his pace was down, he still stays a key asset for the visitors.
As with Woakes and Carse, Mohammad Siraj has played all 4 Tests but appears in good spirits.
Akash Deep and Arshdeep Singh are expected to be fit for The Oval, one among whom will likely replace Anshul Kamboj, who struggled to remain afloat when thrown in on the deep end on debut.
A giant decision might be whether India go for Shardul Thakur, who scored 41 with the bat in India’s first innings. Nevertheless, with the ball he contributed an uninspiring 11 overs in all.
Or, will wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav finally get a gig at a ground which has, historically not less than, taken spin?
History will dictate little or no going into the ultimate Test.
If the pitch stays the identical as what we’ve got seen over the course of the series, changes might be minimal.
READ MORE: Jamie Overton recalled for England’s series decider against India on the Oval