England all-rounder Chris Woakes says he never considered not going out to bat with a dislocated shoulder against India on the final day of the fifth Test, even as he feared for his career.
Woakes walked out of the dressing room with his left arm in a sling, tucked inside his sweater, after the fall of the penultimate wicket at The Oval. The final Test — which India won narrowly — was finely poised.
He said he felt it was his “duty to do it for everyone”, and is still gutted that England lost the game by six runs, resulting in India levelling the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2-2.
“I don’t know what it is. You just know you’re part of something bigger. It’s not just you that you’re playing for out there,” Woakes, awaiting further scans, told The Guardian.
“It’s your team and your teammates, all the hard work and the sacrifices they put in, the people watching at home and in the ground. You just feel a duty to do it for everyone. 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,” he added.
Woakes said it felt nice to walk out to a standing ovation but does not read much into his heroic act. “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,” he said.
Woakes revealed he began practising batting one-handed from the fourth day onwards with England assistant coach Marcus Trescothick. “I defended one normally and, oh mate, it was agony,” he said.
“We soon worked out that a left-hander’s stance would shield the shoulder and at least allow me to sort of block with my top hand in control. I hit a few, missed a few, but it felt like the only way to survive,” he added.
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The senior England player also revealed the exchanges he had with India skipper Shubman Gill and his deputy Rishabh Pant, who put on a similar act of bravery in the fourth Test when he batted with a broken foot.
“Shubman said something like that was incredibly brave,” to which Woakes responded, “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.”
Pant had put an image of Wokes on Instagram with a salute emoji. He replied, thanking him: “Appreciate the love and hope the foot is OK”.
