Chris Woakes, the all-rounder who was the chief contributor to England’s victory in the second Test at Lord’s, sparkled again in the third Test against India, tearing through the top order and reducing India for 82/3.
But India fought their way back into the match through a brilliant 159-run stand between Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane for the fourth wicket, their efforts helping India to 307/6 at stumps. Woakes felt England would have liked to do better with the ball, especially after winning the toss, but felt that the match was evenly poised.
“It was an even day overall, I think. When you do win the toss, and go out there and have a bowl, there’s always that added pressure to skittle them early. But credit to India, I thought they played pretty well,” he said.
“There was no real difference in Ben. He was the same as he always is, desperate to do well and perform for England and he’s been great around the group. Today didn’t go as well as he would have liked it to have gone, he’d have liked a couple of wickets, but that’s the game.”
Woakes might have taken the first three wickets of the day to fall, but he wasn’t getting carried away by the early success in the game.
“I don’t feel like I need to be Man of the Match every game to try to keep my place,” he 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.”
