Save our Stokes: England need to rest their captain next week ...Middle East

4th Test, Day 4: India 358 & 174-2 (Rahul 87*, Gill 78* | Woakes 2-48) trail England 669 (Root 150, Stokes 141 | Jadeja 4-143) by 137 runs with eight wickets remaining

OLD TRAFFORD — Whether or not England wrap up this series on the final day in Manchester, they should seriously consider resting the totemic figure of captain Ben Stokes for next week’s final Test at The Oval.

There are no guarantees Stokes’ team, 2-1 up in the series, will actually get over the line in this fourth Test after stiff resistance from India captain Shubman Gill and KL Rahul ground England’s victory charge to a grinding halt over the final two sessions of this fourth day.

Having started their second innings by losing Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan in successive balls during Chris Woakes’ first over, India’s third-wicket pair dropped anchor during an unbeaten 174-run stand across 62 overs to offer hope the series will still be alive when the tourists head to London on Monday.

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It feels imperative that England, still 137 runs ahead, finish the job on Sunday, taking an unassailable 3-1 series lead, not just to reward the heroics of Stokes but to give them an excuse to take their most valuable player out of the firing line ahead of this winter’s Ashes in Australia.

Nobody needed a reminder of just how influential Stokes is. But he’s underlined the point in permanent marker anyway during this match, following up his first five-wicket haul for eight years with his first Test century since 2023 on a fourth day that started with England assuming an utterly dominant position.

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There has never been any doubt about Stokes’ ability with the bat despite a barren run without a hundred that had lasted 20 Tests.

It is his ability with the ball that makes him the real difference-maker for this team.

During a summer where his 16 Indian scalps have made him the leading wicket-taker in this series, his form with the ball is as good as it’s ever been.

Yet having overcome knee and hamstring issues in recent years, Stokes is always walking a fitness tightrope.

Now, it seems is the point where he feels he may topple from the high wire unless he drags himself back from the brink.

It’s why Stokes must be saved from himself and rested next week.

The 129 overs he has got through so far across these first four Tests are the most he’s bowled in a single series, beating the 116.5 from his maiden Test series in Australia in the winter of 2013-14.

It felt highly significant that with his team struggling for inspiration on this fourth day, Stokes did not bring himself on to bowl.

That will probably change on Sunday, but having admitted he’d taken himself to “dark places” during his final-day heroics for England in the third Test at Lord’s, it’s no wonder Stokes’ body is rebelling.

Seven-thousand and counting…Ben Stokes sends one into the stands to bring up a massive milestone pic.twitter.com/xz71tFJaFo

He retired hurt on day three at Old Trafford citing cramp in his left leg – the one where he has had knee surgery and hamstring issues.

Although he later came out to resume his innings and was moving freely as he blazed his way to a 14th Test century on Saturday, something is not quite right. And England cannot risk another injury to their captain so close to the Ashes.

After his second hamstring tear inside five months last December, it took the 34-year-old five months to return to playing.

With the first Ashes Test in Perth on 21 November less than three months away, the window for any rehabilitation period this time is punishingly narrow.

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Having looked so good this summer, there’s no way Stokes should be risked even if there’s only a small chance of any injury.

With him bowling and batting like he has this summer against India, England may just go and win their first away Ashes series in 15 years. Without Stokes, their chances would be virtually zero.

There are oodles of stats that illustrate what a freakish talent Stokes is. But the fact during his century here he became just the third all-rounder to pass 7,000 Test runs and 200 Test wickets alongside the great Jacques Kallis and Sir Garfield Sobers said it all.

He’s also the first England captain to have taken five wickets and scored a century in a single Test. That’s something neither Ian Botham nor Andrew Flintoff managed leading their country.

The last captain of any team to do this in a Test was Pakistan’s Imran Khan in 1983.

Stokes is a player who’s taken five-wicket hauls and scored centuries both home and away against India and Australia. He saves his very best for the biggest occasions. It’s the story of his remarkable career.

England need him this winter like never before. So, they really do need to win here to give Stokes the opportunity to rest up ahead of the Ashes.

If this series is still on the line next week, it’s hard to see that happening.

It means the stakes on the final day in Manchester couldn’t be higher.

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