England all-rounder Chris Woakes has gone from strength to strength since his emphatic return after injury in the Lord’s Test, where his show with bat and ball won him the Man-of-the-Match award.
He dismissed openers - Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul - and Cheteshwar Pujara in quick succession but had to share honours with India skipper Virat Kohli (97) and Ajinkya Rahane (81), who led a fightback with a 159-run partnership on Day 1 of the third Test encounter at Trent Bridge.
England skipper Joe Root won the toss for the third time in the series. He elected to bowl but in conditions not too seam-friendly, the bowlers were tackled well by Kohli and Rahane.
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“When you do win the toss and go out there and have a bowl, there’s always that added pressure to skittle them early,” Woakes said after play on Saturday. “But credit to India, I thought they played pretty well.”
While James Anderson is regarded as the king of swing, he had to wait until the last ball of the opening day to take a wicket – Hardik Pandya for 18. Only Woakes swung the ball in the morning to take three wickets in succession.
{{/usCountry}}While James Anderson is regarded as the king of swing, he had to wait until the last ball of the opening day to take a wicket – Hardik Pandya for 18. Only Woakes swung the ball in the morning to take three wickets in succession.
{{/usCountry}}He was pleased with his game, having cemented his spot with bowling and an unbeaten century at Lord’s as Ben Stokes’ replacement. That meant Woakes held his spot while young Sam Curran sat out once Stokes returned at Trent Bridge.
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“I don’t feel like I need to be man-of-the-match every game to try to keep my place,” Woakes said. “I just try to do my job. There’s always pressure to perform whenever you put the England shirt on – always people knocking on the door.
“It is unfortunate for Sam to miss out. But when someone like Ben comes back, he’s a world-class all-rounder who has performed for the team for such a long period of time, you can understand that decision.”