Veteran English all-rounder dislocated his shoulder while diving to save a boundary on Day 1.
That unreal image of Chris Woakes coming into bat with a broken hand during the fifth and final Test match against India at the Oval still gives a lot of goosebumps. That moment will remain etched in the memory for years to come. The England team lost nine wickets and was standing on the edge of winning the thrilling clash at the Oval, and that is when Woakes decided to give a final push with a broken hand.
Unfortunately, the result did not turn out in England’s favour as the Indian team won the game by six runs, levelling the five-match Test series 2-2.
Chris Woakes’ Heroics With A Broken Hand
Earlier, veteran English all-rounder dislocated his shoulder while diving to save a boundary on Day 1, and as a result, he spent the rest of the days in a sling. There were a lot of questions about whether Woakes would come out to bat or not. But despite all the odds, the 36-year-old showed tremendous grit and courage.
“I’m still gutted, devastated really, that we couldn’t get the fairytale. But I never considered not going out there, even if it had been 100 runs still to win or whatever. It was nice to have the ovation and some of the Indian players came over to show their respect. But any other player would have done the same. You couldn’t just call it off at nine wickets down,” Woakes told The Guardian.
Though Woakes did not play a ball but he was constantly running between the 22 yards, and it’s not easy to do so with a broken hand.
“The first one was the worst. All I had taken was codeine and it was just so sore. Instinct took over here – even with my arm strapped down I tried to run as you naturally do. I genuinely worried my shoulder had popped back out again, hence you saw me throw my helmet off, rip the glove off with my teeth, and check it was OK,” he added.
On the back of his terrific courage, fans and even the Indian team lauded his effort. Shubman Gill even called him brave.
“Shubman [Gill] said something like: ‘That was incredibly brave. I told him: ‘You’ve had an unbelievable series, well played, and credit to your team.’ Both sets of players had been through the mill in the series and deserve credit for the show we put on. Both teams wanted the win, of course, but it does kind of feel fair that it was drawn,” Woakes added.
“I saw Rishabh [Pant] 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.”
It was an exhilarating series as both teams displayed a brilliant show of cricket. Gill was the highest run scorer of the five-match series, ending with a massive 754 runs in 10 innings at an average of 75.40. England tried to edge past India’s huge target till day five of the final Test before India sealed a win courtesy of a brilliant showing from Mohammed Siraj.
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