The image of Chris Woakes walking in to bat with his left hand in a sling and hidden inside a jumper on the fifth day of the fifth Test between India and England will remain etched in the memory for some
time to come. With England nine down and ever so close to what would’ve gone down as one of their finest victories and more importantly given them a 3-1 series triumph, an incapacitated Woakes attempted one last push to help his team get over the line. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be even though the final few moments proved to be a painful experience for the England allrounder.
India would go on to win the contest by six runs with Woakes not facing a single delivery but being asked to run by his batting partner Gus Atkinson four times. Despite an injured shoulder, that popped out on the opening day of the Test itself while Woakes was attempting to save a boundary, he ran as naturally as one would when fully fit with “instinct” taking over.
The result? Woakes was in pain and after the first run, he even feared that the shoulder may have popped out again. Fortunately, it wasn’t the case.
Woakes was hailed for his heroic attempt. Every member of the Indian team ensured to acknowledge him with India captain Shubman Gill calling his decision to bat despite the pain “incredibly brave”.
“Shubman said something like: ‘That was incredibly brave'” Woakes told The Guardian. “I told him: ‘You’ve had an unbelievable series, well played, and credit to your team.'”
Before Woakes, Rishabh Pant had also braved a broken foot to resume batting during the Manchester Test. Incidentally, Pant had injured his foot while attempting to reverse-sweep a low full toss from Woakes.
Though Pant managed to bat at Old Trafford, the injury did rule him out of the series finale.The India wicketkeeper-batter appreciated Woakes’ for his gutsy display and the Englishman replied in kind.
“I saw Rishabh had put an image of me on Instagram with a salute emoji, so I replied thanking him: ‘Appreciate the love and hope the foot is OK’ etc. He then sent me a voice note saying: ‘I hope all is OK, good luck with the recovery and I hope we meet again out there some day.’ I obviously said sorry for the broken foot.”
Despite the fiery exchanges on the field, once the drama ended, the two opponents exchanged smiles and pleasantries. They praised each other for the titanic efforts that made the series one of the most memorable ones of recent times.
