New Delhi [India], July 14 : Former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan heaped praise on England skipper Ben Stokes following his exceptional bowling performance in the fourth innings of the third Test match which is been played at the 'Home of Cricket', Lord's.
So far in the fourth innings, Stokes has bowled 14 overs where he has managed to grab two wickets in his spell where he has conceded just 34 runs at an economy of 2.4. The all-rounder took the wickets of night-watchman Akash Deep (1) and opener KL Rahul (39).
Speaking on Stokes bowling performance, Irfan took to X and wrote, "Ben Stokes bowled an 9.2 over spell on Day 5 of a Test match -- pure grit. He's not just a 4D player, he's the heart of this England team. Giving it everything."
https://x.com/IrfanPathan/status/1944727754139910434
Earlier in the first innings of the Lord's Test, Stokes bowled 20 overs where he snapped two wickets where he gave away 63 runs at an economy of 3.2 picking up the wickets of Karun Nair (40) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (30).
Till now in the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, Stokes has bagged 10 wickets in the three matches of the series so far at an average of 31.00.
Coming to the Lord's Test, currently, India is chasing 193 runs and is in a deep spot of bother, having lost eight wickets after scoring 112 runs in 39.3 overs at the stroke of lunch.
England won the toss and opted to bat first. England was reduced to 44/2, but a 109-run stand between Ollie Pope (44 in 104 balls, with four boundaries) and Joe Root (104 in 199 balls, with 10 fours) and a counter-attacking 84 run stand for the eighth wicket stand between Brydon Carse (56 in 83 balls, with six fours and a six) and Jamie Smith (51 in 56 balls, with six fours) took England to 387.
Jasprit Bumrah (5/74) was the highlight for India with the ball.
In the second innings, India lost Yashasvi Jaiswal early, but a 61-run stand between Karun Nair (26 in 46 balls, with five fours) and KL Rahul and a 141-run stand between KL (100 in 177 balls, with 13 fours) and Rishabh Pant (74 in 112 balls, with eight fours and two sixes) took India close to England's score.
A brilliant half-century from Ravindra Jadeja (72 in 131 balls, with eight fours and a six) and lower-order contributions from Nitish Kumar Reddy (30) and Washington Sundar (23) took India to 387, with nothing separating the sides.
Chris Woakes (3/84) was the top bowler for England in this innings.
In England's second innings, India continuously kept England under pressure, except for a 67-run fifth wicket stand between Root (40 in 96 balls, with a four) and Stokes (33 in 96 balls, with three fours). Sundar (4/22) delivered a game-changer spell, running through the middle-order and bundling out England for 192.