It was the first delivery with the new ball that felled Ben Stokes. Mohammed Siraj had waited until the third ball of the over to use it and, as Stokes tried to pull it on to the legside, it struck him amidships.
Stokes went down hard and lay at the popping crease, writhing in pain. When the crowd saw the replay on the big screens at either side of Old Trafford, there was a giant groan of collective sympathy.
One social media site produced an immediate catalogue of other occasions on which Stokes had been similarly incapacitated and pronounced that, given he had gone on to be player of the match in three of them, this might actually be a good omen.
Siraj, never the most sympathetic of opponents, stood over him for a second and looked at him with disdain, as if he were mystified as to why Stokes were making such a fuss. Stokes tried to say something but gave up and allowed himself to recover.
Then the England skipper hauled himself back to his feet. One way or another, Stokes always hauls himself back to his feet. And then play resumed. And in what may prove to have been the most important session of this fourth Test, he and Joe Root took the match and the series away from India.
This was indisputably Root’s day, a day when he passed Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting in the ranks of the greatest Test run scorers of all time on his way to a magnificent innings of 150, and now sits behind only Sachin Tendulkar in the pantheon.
But part of the joy of what unfolded here in Manchester on Friday was the privilege of watching two England greats, two mates, two captains, two leaders, two wonderful cricketers, at the crease together, working together at a seminal stage of a dramatic series. So the day was a triumph for Stokes, too.
If one were to pick a Player of the Series at the end of the third day of this Test match, it would be him. Stokes has led England superbly — he is the series’ leading wicket-taker, he took five wickets in India’s first innings here and now he has stepped up with the bat, too.
England were not exactly in trouble when Stokes came to the crease at 349-4 but they had lost the wickets of Ollie Pope and Harry Brook in quick succession and their prospects of building a big lead over the tourists were starting to dim.
Stokes changed that. He played with far more restraint than savagery. He guarded his wicket jealously and allowed Root’s elegant carving to do most of the damage. Stokes was content to make sure he stuck around so England could build the defining partnership of this contest.
And that is what it became. Stokes scored 14 from his first 38 balls and saw off the challenge of India’s spinners, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, bowling at him in tandem. When Siraj returned to the visitors’ attack, he may have put Stokes down but he did not take him out. Stokes resumed.
There were isolated moments of pure atavism. Not long after he had been felled, Stokes danced down the wicket to Anshul Kamboj who was bowling with the new ball, and thrashed it back past him through mid-on for four. Later, he smote a beautiful drive through the covers off Jasprit Bumrah.
He clipped a Sundar delivery to mid-wicket for a single after tea to bring up his first half-century of the series and take England to 470-4, a lead of 112. It took him 97 balls to reach his 50.
He only hit three boundaries on his way to the landmark, the fewest of any Test 50 he has compiled. It was a sign of his utter determination not to let England’s grip on this series slip with victory in sight.
Eventually, Stokes began to let loose but an extravagant reverse sweep appeared to set off a bout of cramp that got worse and worse and when he reached 66, his partnership with Root worth 142, he limped back to the pavilion to allow Jamie Smith to take his place.
Then he hauled himself back up again. Root was out soon after Stokes had disappeared into the England dressing room and Smith and Chris Woakes were both out cheaply. So, just after 6pm, less than an hour after he had limped off, Stokes strode back out to the middle like Captain Indestructible.
There were huge cheers from the steepling temporary stand to Stokes’s left as the England captain walked down the stairs and the crowd realised who was coming in. Stokes added another 11 runs to his total to finish the day not out on 77, with England on 544-7. Their lead is 186.
It was a masterful innings in its own way, too, a doggedly patient innings, an innings played against type, an innings full of courage and defiance and resolve. By close of play, it was the longest England had batted in a Test innings in this country under the captaincy of Stokes.
As the players walked off the pitch in the weak sunlight of a fading Manchester evening on Friday night, the situation was clear: England are in command. Stokes is in command.
