Ben Stokes tormented India with his 14th Test hundred in Manchester. Stokes, by far, has been the best bowler of the series, with 16 wickets so far, but his batting looked far from best in the preceding Tests. However, the confidence he gained from his stupendous efforts with the ball allowed him to shrug off the lean run with the bat. Stokes left India reeling with a scintillating 141 and helped England take a 311-run lead in the second innings.

Stokes Century Celebration Explained

After reaching the special century milestones, Ben Stokes pulled off a unique folded finger celebration where he bent his fingers and pointed the hand towards the sky. For the unversed, this was Stokes' way of paying tribute to his father. Notably, Stokes' father, Ged, faced career-threatening finger injury. Instead of going for surgery, which would have put a financial burden on the family and also might have affected his career, he decided to get it amputated and continued playing.

Stokes Shatters Huge Records

Meanwhile, Stokes shattered multiple records after scoring a hundred in Manchester. He became the fifth captain to score a hundred and take a fifer in the same Test. He is also the fourth England player after Ian Botham, Tony Greig, and Gus Atkinson to achieve the historic double.

Captains To Score A Hundred And Take A Fifer In Same Test

• Denis Atkinson (WI) vs AUS, Bridgetown, 1955
• Garry Sobers (WI) vs ENG, Leeds, 1966
• Mushtaq Mohammad (PAK) vs WI, Port of Spain, 1977
• Imran Khan (PAK) vs IND, Faisalabad, 1983
• Ben Stokes (ENG) vs IND, Manchester, 2025*

The England captain also completed 7000 runs in Test cricket and joined Imran Khan and Gary Sobers to complete a remarkable feat of scoring 7000 Test runs and 200 wickets. He also became the sixth player to score 11000 runs and take 300 wickets in international cricket.