The moment of shared pain came in the first hour. Ben Stokes had already bowled four overs with a grimace, exuding weapons-grade main-character energy, constantly having to massage the source of discomfort by his right shoulder. His heart was still intact, though, as he burst through the crease. He had Shubman Gill dropped on 81 and dismissed the resolute KL Rahul for 90 with an lbw scuttler, the first wicket in more than two sessions.
Gill, unbeaten on 90, faced up for the first ball of Stokes’s fifth over. He would have been wary of the one bound to keep low, ready for pretty much any ball after facing 192 deliveries and spending two days in the field before that. But then came the explosion, the ball deflecting off his glove into the lid. The bat dropped, the helmet came off, the right hand his only concern. Stokes, even with this victory of sorts, looked broken. The pair could easily have fallen into an embrace like two punched-up heavyweights after going 12 rounds.
