"Ben Stokes Is A Freak": England Coach's Massive Take Over Rohit Sharma's Dismissal

It was as if the stars aligned for Ben Stokes to bowl that magic ball to his opposite number Rohit Sharma on day two of the fifth Test, feels England assistant coach Jeetan Patel. Right after lunch, England captain bowled a peach of a delivery, his first in competitive cricket in past nine months, to remove Rohit, who had already scored his second hundred of the series. Stokes, who had been bowling only in the nets thus far, finally decided to roll his arm over in a match situation after nothing went England's way in the morning session. He had stopped bowling owing to a knee injury and had undergone surgery last year.

Bowling the second over of the afternoon session, Stokes produced a peach that seamed away a touch from good length to dislodge Rohit's off-stump.

"He's (Stokes) a freak. It was almost written in the stars that he was going to bowl a jaffa first up and get Rohit Sharma out who was on 100. We all know how we can round our attack out, especially in conditions like these where you've usually got two spinners, two seamers and then you want your third in Stokesy.

"It was nice to see him back at the crease but we've just got to be careful we don't push him too far, it's still early days for him. I'm sure he'll rest up tonight, get some ice on it and see where it fronts tomorrow," said the former New Zealand spinner.

The dressing room too was amazed at Stokes when he came on to bowl the second over after lunch.

"A little bit of amazement, a little bit written in the stars, a lot of people laughing. It's quite funny because he came on to bowl when the English crowds are waking up - they're flicking on the TV and the first thing they see is Ben Stokes bowling a really good delivery to Rohit Sharma.

"It's so nice to