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In the morning session on day four of the fourth Test against India in the five-match series, England captain Ben Stokes brought up his 14th Test hundred at Old Trafford in Manchester. The 34-year-old, who hasn’t had a fifty-plus score in the first three Test matches of the series, managed to not only get past it, but also converted it into a three-figure score, to put England in a very strong position, leading India by more than 200 runs in the first innings.
The milestone moment for Ben Stokes came on the bowling of Mohammed Siraj, clipping him away towards the fine leg region for four runs before remembering his late father up above the heavens with his “Finger" celebration, with thousands of fans clapping for him. Earlier in the ongoing contest, the captain of England managed to take his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket in nearly eight years, playing a key role in ensuring that India were bowled out for 358 runs in 114.1 overs.
Watch the video here:
As of this writing, England have reached 594/8 total in 146 overs with Ben Stokes still at the crease alongside Brydon Carse, looking to extend their 236-run lead further. With these many runs on the board, English bowlers will be able to attack the Indian batters in the second innings for long periods in their attempt to bowl them out, to win the Test and series at Old Trafford in Manchester.
India have a huge task ahead of them to save the Test match with more than five sessions of play still remaining in the contest.
Below are the playing XIs of England and India for the fourth Test at Old Trafford in Manchester:
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Liam Dawson, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Anshul Kamboj, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
