England skipper Ben Stokes stood tall with his first Test five-wicket haul in charge of the Test side as the hosts bundled India for 358 in the first innings of the ongoing Manchester Test after choosing to bowl first. Stokes registered his fifth five-wicket haul in Test cricket and first since 2017 as the England skipper, with his angle and the movement off it at Old Trafford, wasn't the easiest to play and Indian batters fell prey to him as despite a fighting Rishabh Pant's half-century, the visitors fell mighty short of a strong score of 380-400.
Stokes became only the fourth all-rounder in Test cricket to record five 5-wicket hauls while also smashing at least 10 centuries with the bat, joining the likes of Jacques Kallis, Gary Sobers and Sir Ian Botham on the elite list.
Players to score 10 centuries and take five 5-wicket hauls in Tests
Ian Botham - 14 centuries, 27 fifers
Jacques Kallis - 45 centuries, 5 fifers
Gary Sobers - 26 centuries, 6 fifers
Ben Stokes - 13 centuries, 5 fifers*
5/72 were his best figures against India, bettering his only other five-wicket haul against the same opposition during the 2016 series in Mohali (5/73). Stokes has a couple of five-wicket hauls against Australia and one against the West Indies, the last one being at Lord's in 2017. Apart from Stokes, Jofra Archer also chipped in with three wickets, including the big ones of Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja, at the start of the second day.
Liam Dawson and Chris Woakes shared a wicket apiece as England will be glad with their bowling effort. The ball was seaming and swinging around, but there were runs to be had and England will fancy their chances to take a first-innings lead and exert pressure on the 10-man Indian team.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan and brave Pant scored half-centuries for India but none of them converted into a big one. India will aim to get at least three-four wickets before the end of the day's play to stay in the hunt of bowling England out cheaply.
