Joe Root: Chris Woakes will bat with a dislocated shoulder if he has to
A late downpour and bad light brought an early end to play at the Oval on Sunday, with England on the brink of completing their second-highest successful run chase after a sensational partnership of 195 between Harry Brook and Joe Root, who both scored hundreds.
But the hard-fought series will head into its 25th day with the outcome far from certain as India staged a late fightback. They took the key wickets of Brook and Root as England fell to 339 for six, only for bad light and rain to stop play, setting the stage for what Root thinks will be a 'great day'.
'It was always going to happen like this, wasn't it? I mean, look at the first four games [which all went to the final day],' Root, 34, said. 'It's just been that kind of series. It's been amazing to play in and quite fitting almost that we're going to get that kind of finish tomorrow.'
With England six wickets down and with India able to take the second new ball after three overs in the morning, there is a definite possibility that Woakes will have to come out to bat despite the serious left shoulder injury he suffered late on the first evening, when he was sliding to try to stop a boundary.
The injury is so serious it is likely to take several months to heal and could rule him out of contention for the Ashes, but Root confirmed that the 36-year-old all-rounder was 'all in' and would 'put his body on the line' if needed.
'You saw him and his whites in the dressing room,' Root said. 'He's all in like the rest of us. It's been that kind of series where guys have had to put bodies on the line. Hopefully it won't come to that, but he has had some throw-downs in the nets, and he is ready if needed.
'Clearly he's in a huge amount of pain, having done what he's done, but it just shows, as we've seen from other guys within this series, like [Rishabh] Pant batting with a broken foot, guys taking all sorts of blows here and there, but it means a huge amount to him.
'It just shows the character and the person that he is that he's willing to put his body on the line like that for England — hopefully he doesn't have to, but if it does come to that, [he could] get us across the line and win us an incredible series.'
Root scored his 39th Test match hundred but admitted he was frustrated not to still be in at the end of the day, although he has full confidence that the remaining batsmen can get the job done.
'We've got the players to get us across the line tomorrow,' he said. 'It's been one hell of a series, one hell of a journey and there is confidence in our dressing room.'
Root hailed the 'incredible talent' of his fellow centurion Brook, 26, who battered a sensational 111 from 98 balls, and revealed that his Yorkshire team-mate had been unusually emotional on reaching the three-figure milestone.
'He mentioned out there how emotional he was, and I don't even think he knew where it came from, but clearly, it's been a hard-fought series and he's desperate to win games for England,' Root said. 'It means a huge amount to him. I think that's one of the rare occasions you've seen how much it means to him to play for England and to impact a game for our dressing room.
'We've both got very contrasting games, but I think that works really well in our favour. He obviously plays slightly more expansively than I do and has got an amazing array of shots but [what is impressive is] the amount of pressure he puts back on opposition, the way that he takes calculated risks at the right moments and can open a game completely up like he did today.
'It's amazing being able to play second fiddle to that and watch it in the best seat in the house. It's not like he's a one-off fluke. He's got ten hundreds playing in a very similar manner. He's incredibly consistent at it. There's definitely a huge amount of method behind what he does and the impact that it's had on this Test match is why we're sat here only needing 35 to win.'
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