Woakes Opens Up About Batting With Dislocated Shoulder vs India: 'Gutted...'

England cricket team fast bowler Chris Woakes finally opened up about batting with a dislocated shoulder during Day 5 of the fifth Test match against India at The Oval. Woakes suffered the injury during Day 1 of the match and did not play any part in the match from that point. England needed 35 runs to win with 4 wickets in hand on the final day of the series. However, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna bowled brilliantly to leave them 9 down. In a moment of pure determination, Woakes walked out to bat with his injured arm in a sling and although he did not face a single delivery, he kept running between the wickets despite wincing in pain. In a recent interview, Woakes revealed that he was always sure that he was going to bat if needed and also lamented the fact that England went on to lose the game by 6 runs.

“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. 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,” Woakes told The Guardian.

Even though he did not face a ball, taking runs with Gus Atkinson was not an easy task for Woakes either. He was visibly struggling while taking the singles and Woakes revealed the pain he was in at that moment.

“The first one was the worst,” he says. “All I had taken was codeine and it was just so sore. Instinct took over here – even with my arm strapped down I tried to run as you naturally do. I genuinely worried my shoulder had popped back out again, hence you saw me throw my helmet off, rip the glove off with my teeth, and check it was OK.”