Historic Draw: Player Ratings from Fourth Test As Joe Root and Shubman Gill Shine

England’s Test series with India heads into a decider at The Oval with the hosts leading 2-1. Shubman Gill’s side held on for a final-day draw in the fourth Test at Old Trafford, despite a history-making hundred for Joe Root and another Player of the Match performance by Ben Stokes – here’s how we rated the players from both sides…

England player ratings

Zak Crawley – 8

Batting: 84

England’s massive 311-run lead on first innings and Old Trafford-record Test total of 669 owed most notably to Joe Root’s historic 150 and Ben Stokes’ 141 – more on them shortly – but the role that openers Crawley and Ben Duckett played cannot be understated.

The pair put on 166 together for the first wicket on the second evening, their stand all the more impressive considering it came shortly after England’s seamers had the ball hooping around all over place earlier that day.

Crawley loves this ground – having hit Australia for 189 here two years ago – and gave nod to why England want him so badly at the top of the order for this winter’s Ashes tour.

Ben Duckett – 8

Batting: 94

A return to form for Duckett after a couple of fallow Tests at Edgbaston and Lord’s to follow on from his match-winning 149 at Headingley to kick off the series.

Both he and Crawley deserved hundreds, with Duckett particularly aggrieved to have nicked off to a rather innocuous short and wide delivery from Anshul Kamboj when six runs shy of his century.

Ollie Pope – 7

Batting: 71

Not his most memorable half century, but an important one all the same.

Pope has a habit of starting series well before fading and, having followed up his first-innings hundred at Headingley with scores of 8, 0, 24, 44 and 4, calls may have mounted again for a Jacob Bethell introduction at The Oval.

Instead, he now heads to his home ground, where he has a sensational record – and scored 154 against Sri Lanka last year – in decent touch as he looks to keep his grip on that No 3 spot for the Ashes.

Joe Root – 10

Batting: 150

You can’t score him any lower than a 10, England’s greatest Test batter of all time cruising past Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting into second on the all-time leading run-scorers list during his majestic 150 on day three.

It was Root’s 38th Test hundred – 21 of those coming since the start of 2021 – and second of the series, the 34-year-old in the form of his life and with only Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar ahead of him in top spot, albeit still a couple of thousand runs clear.

Harry Brook – 5

Batting: 3

With England batting just the once in the Test, in which he was dismissed cheaply by Washington Sundar, it was a quiet outing for Brook but for a couple of nicely-pouched catches, some day five bowling filth before the draw and some rather comical sprinting to his fielding position in between overs in an elaborate demonstration of England’s eagerness to up their over rate.

Ben Stokes – 10

Bowling: 5-72 and 1-33; Batting: 141

Player of the Match, again. The only difference to Lord’s being that this time his exhaustive efforts did not result in another final-day victory for his side.

The talismanic captain bagged a first Test five-wicket haul since 2017 in India’s first innings, followed that up with a first hundred in two years and then threatened to carry the team on his shoulders – even when seemingly troubled by his right one – on the final morning with the wicket of KL Rahul as part of another tireless eight-over spell.

Jamie Smith – 5

Batting: 9

A quiet Test for England’s wicketkeeper, having shone for so much of the series prior to this week.

He fell to a probing Jasprit Bumrah spell with the second new ball on the third evening, while there was also a rare misstep with the gloves to report as he dropped a gettable Sai Sudharsan offering down the legside in the first innings when the Indian No 3 – who went on to make 61 – was on 20.

Liam Dawson – 6

Bowling: 1-45 and 0-95; Batting: 26

Not a pitch Dawson will want to roll up and take with him as the left-arm spinner – playing his first Test in eight years – went wicketless through 47 overs of hard toil in India’s second innings. This coming after having struck with only his seventh ball back, picking up Yashasvi Jaiswal caught at slip.

Dawson bowled well despite the poor returns, albeit he tired as the final day wore on, serving up the odd freebie, but he still has the chance to stake a claim for the front-line spinner’s role in the Ashes – his lower-order batting an added bonus – with a strong showing at The Oval.

Chris Woakes – 7

Bowling: 1-66 and 2-67; Batting: 4

Woakes’ two wickets in two balls in the first over of the Indian second innings now seems a looooong time ago. You’d have been hard-pressed to find anyone backing the draw at that stage, India two down without a run on the board, 311 in arrears and five sessions still to bat out, but here we are.

The wicket that claimed Jaiswal was a jaffa – round the wicket, with a bit of shape away – while that of Sudharsan was a bit more of a gift. He also claimed Rahul with a decent ball in the first innings while, with the bat, he was bowled by a brutal delivery from Mohammed Siraj that kept low.

Brydon Carse – 6

Bowling: 0-71 and 0-44; Batting: 47

Not at his best, finishing wicketless in both innings, although that’s not a fair reflection of the tireless effort he’s put in for his captain not only in this Test, but the entire series after playing in all four matches.

His 47 off 54 when batting at No 10 – smiting three fours and two big sixes – should also not go unnoticed, he and Stokes nearly adding a ton for the ninth wicket.

Jofra Archer – 7

Bowling: 3-73 and 1-78; Batting: 2no

Another positive outing from Archer as England work him back into the fold following four years out of Test cricket due to injury.

He wasn’t quite as quick as he was at Lord’s, though the Old Trafford surface might have had something to do with that, but there were flashes of the same fast bowling fire – particularly the ball to dismiss Rishabh Pant, sending his off stump cartwheeling out of the ground in near identical fashion to that on the final morning at the Home of Cricket.

The big question is, will England risk him at The Oval for a third Test in a row with those Ashes looming this winter?

India player ratings

Yashasvi Jaiswal – 6

Batting: 58 and 0

It’s been somewhat feast or famine for Jaiswal thus far in this series, perfectly represented by his returns for this Test, a first-innings fifty followed up by a four-ball duck second time round as England threatened to run through a tired Indian outfit weary from three days of graft in the field.

Woakes claimed two in two balls in the first over of India’s second innings, Jaiswal undone by a beauty from round the wicket that squared the left-hander up as it shaped away and brushed the edge through to a juggled Root grab at slip.

KL Rahul – 9

Batting: 46 and 90

Far from fold to defeat, India dug in to hold out for a draw and force a series decider at The Oval, with Rahul once again more than playing his part.

The opener continues to be a thorn in England’s side, producing another of his supremely skilful, courageous and determined batting displays at the top of the order that we’ve seen throughout the series.

He shared in a near century stand with Jaiswal on the first morning after India were inserted by Stokes and, most notably, in a 188-run partnership with Shubman Gill that helped rescue the tourists from a perilous position at 0-2 just prior to lunch on the fourth day – the pair’s stubborn resistance lasting deep into the fifth morning.

Sai Sudharsan – 6

Batting: 61 and 0

India’s dilemma at No 3 lives on, though Sudharsan showed enough in this Test to be afforded the sort of run at the position which was rather cruelly denied him after a couple of low scores on debut at Headingley to start the series.

Sudharsan played nicely at points for his first-innings 61, before getting slightly stuck on the first evening and top-edging a pull down to deep fine-leg off Stokes having been bottled up by England.

If that dismissal was owed to frustration, then his golden duck in the second was down to a tired mind as he was afforded only a four-ball breather from his time in the field.

Shubman Gill – 9

Batting: 12 and 103

The Indian captain’s remarkable series lives on, Gill averaging 90.25 and with his tally for the four Tests now standing at 722, a new high mark for an Indian batter in a Test series against England – and with Sunil Gavaskar’s all-time record of 774 in any series firmly in his sights as we head to The Oval.

A brilliant Stokes delivery did for him cheaply in the first innings, out lbw without offering a shot as the England skipper got one to jag back in sharply to the right-hander, while a rather more innocuous Archer delivery proved his undoing second time round, ending a magnificent rearguard of 103 off 238 deliveries that helped inspire India’s series-saving draw.

Rishabh Pant – 8

Batting: 54

In what has sadly proven to be Pant’s final contribution to the series – the swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batter ruled out of the final Test with a fractured foot – his brave half century in the first innings will live long in the memory, along with his other sizeable contributions through the first three Tests.

Pant suffered the injury on day one when taking a blow on the boot during a Woakes lbw shout as he failed to fully connect with a reverse-sweep off the seamer – yes, you read that right.

Having retired hurt on 37 on the first evening, Pant limped out to the middle on day two to add 17 more to his overnight score – a pulled six off Archer a particular highlight, before punching four more square to bring up his fifth score of fifty or more for the series.

Ravindra Jadeja – 9

Batting: 20 and 107no; Bowling: 4-143

How different Jadeja’s Test and the series might have looked had Root pouched the Indian all-rounder first ball off Archer shortly before lunch on the fifth day.

At that point India still trailed by 89 and would have been five down, but instead Jadeja frustrated the hosts – not for the first time in the series – to notch a fifth Test hundred. That’s four fifties and a ton from his last six innings.

As for his work with the ball, though they came at the cost of 143 runs, Jadeja claimed four crucial wickets for his 37.1 overs of toil, the best of the bunch being the beauty to finally beat Root and bag him stumped.

Washington Sundar – 9

Batting; 27 and 101no; Bowling: 2-107

A maiden Test century was secured on the final evening as India secured the draw, while Washington was also arguably the pick of the Indian bowlers, making his delayed introduction into the attack until the 69th over even more baffling.

Within seven overs of his opening spell he had doubled India’s wicket tally for the innings, beating both Pope and Brook with beautifully-flighted deliveries, the considerable drift taking Pope’s edge and beating Brook’s for a stumping.

He struggled to make inroads thereafter in the face of Root and Stokes’ brilliance, but he consistently carried a threat and needs to be trusted more by his captain, while his batting is a huge bonus in India’s efforts to effectively balance their side.

Shardul Thakur – 5

Bowling: 0-55; Batting: 41

A first-innings 41 but otherwise it was another fairly forgettable Test for the Indian all-rounder, similar to his contribution in the first match at Headingley which saw him promptly dropped.

The injury that has ruled Nitish Reddy out for the remainder of the series, resulting in Thakur’s recall here, might see him given another go at The Oval, but having bowled only 11 overs of the 157.1 sent down in England’s innings, might India be better off replacing him with a bowling specialist in their quest to square the series?

Anshul Kamboj – 5

Bowling: 1-89; Batting: 0

It was a Test debut to forget for Kamboj and you fear he’s now unlikely to feature at The Oval.

Not express pace at the best of times, his speeds slowed further over the course of the Test, the 24-year-old seeming short of a gallop after having been drafted into the squad as a late injury replacement for Akash Deep and Arshdeep Singh, then thrust straight into the XI.

The decision to hand him the new ball over Siraj, in particular, proved a poor one, allowing Crawley and Duckett to get England off to a flier in their innings.

Jasprit Bumrah – 6

Bowling: 2-112; Batting: 4

We were always told the target for Bumrah in this series was to play three of the five Test matches, and you can see why India’s ambitions for him have never been greater than that as, seemingly troubled by an ankle issue, he looked short of his incisive best – but for a couple of wicked deliveries that kept low to do for Smith and Dawson.

His final figures of 2-112 from 33 overs is the first time the star Indian quick has conceded 100 runs in his 48-Test career. Remarkable.

Mohammed Siraj – 6

Bowling: 1-140; Batting: 5no

As much as I’d love to reward him with a 7 to mirror the squad number worn by the man whose celebration he copied when taking his solitary wicket for the Test, figures of 1-140 don’t justify such a score.

Siraj cracked out the Cristiano Ronaldo ‘Siuuu!’ when bowling Woakes with one that kept low; he gave absolutely everything for the cause once again, even when slightly hobbled by some sort of injury complaint on the third evening. Four Tests of hard toil on largely unhelpful pitches may well have taken their toll.

Watch the fifth and final Test between England and India at The Kia Oval, live on Sky Sports Cricket on Thursday, July 31, with coverage from 10am ahead of the first ball at 11am, or stream without a contract.

England vs India – results and schedule

All games at 11am UK and Ireland; all on Sky Sports