The India-England Test series of 2025 has been about big-hearted big fast bowlers, refusing to give up. And after the mammoth effort put in by Mohammed Siraj for India, taking Prasidh Krishna in his slipstream, on the ultimate day, it might come down to Chris Woakes to front up brave, with a bat slung by a dislocated shoulder.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW VIDEO
Spotted in his whites, with his arm in a black sling, Woakes, a hard as nails Brummie, looked ready to do duty. Woakes has a dislocated left shoulder so if he bats left handed, then the right arm can take the pings and not aggravate the left back arm.
England are less than 40 adrift but with only 4 wickets in hand, and Jamie Smith left shepherding a tail if things go to the wire.
But speaking to Sky Sports Cricket after Day 4 of the fifth Test at Oval, Joe Root said, Woakes who might get ruled out of the Ashes even with that misaligned shoulder, is ready to wade into battle despite it being clearly painful.
“You probably saw him in his whites in the dressing room. He’s all in just like the rest of us,” Root told Sky. England were agonisingly denied a result in the Manchester Test by India’s all rounders, but one of the strugglers that day was Woakes who has played every Test, just like Siraj. However it will be with the bat that he might need to summon the finishing.
Look who’s in his whites in the dressing room 👀 pic.twitter.com/YQPaVhDYhv
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 3, 2025
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
A fired up Indian side bagged 6 wickets of England including expectedly snapping the two centurions soon after their hundreds, with 35 runs left to achieve for Smith & tail. Woakes would not have expected when Brook and Root were going strong in their 195 run jamming to strap in, but on Day 5, that can’t be ruled out with pressure mounting with desperation to win 3-1. India have been courageous in trying to make it 2-2.
“Clearly he’s in a huge amount of pain,” Root said of Woakes, who rhymes with Stokes, who got ruled out with his own shoulder trouble after Test 4. “But it means a huge amount to him and it just shows the character and the person that he is that he’s willing to put his body on the line like that for England,” Root said.
Story continues below this ad
It’s been a particularly scalding series on both sets of players, and Rishabh Pant already batted with a broken foot to set the tone, as cricket got brutal this summer with patched up men on pain killing injections stepping out to pour last ounce of effort in a Titanic battle.
“If it does come to that hopefully he can get us across the line and win an incredible series,” Root hoped, though Siraj is the big aflamed wall standing between England getting that heroic finish.
