Chris Woakes Reveals On-Field Chat With Shubman Gill After Batting With Injury: 'Brave...'

England cricket team fast bowler Chris Woakes revealed his on-field exchange with Shubman Gill after batting with a dislocated shoulder on Day 5 of the fifth Test match against India at The Oval. Woakes got injured on Day 1 of the encounter and did not play any part in the match after that. However, he had to come out to bat on the final day of the game with his arm in a sling and although England lost the game by 6 runs, his effort was praised by both experts as well as fans. Woakes revealed that India skipper Shubman Gill showed respect to him for his effort and called him 'incredibly brave'.

“Shubman said something like: ‘That was incredibly brave,'” Woakes said in an interview with The Guardian. “I told him: ‘You've had an unbelievable series, well played, and credit to your team.'

Woakes also said that he was in touch with Rishabh Pant who himself was ruled out of the fifth Test due to injury. The duo spoke on social media and Woakes even apologised for Pant's injury.

“I saw Rishabh [Pant] had put an image of me on Instagram with a salute emoji, so I replied thanking him: ‘Appreciate the love and hope the foot is OK,' etc. He then sent me a voice note saying: ‘I hope all is OK, good luck with the recovery and I hope we meet again out there some day.' I obviously said sorry for the broken foot,” he added.

Woakes also had his say about the substution rule in Test cricket.

“I'm with Stokesy, to be honest. Having played for 18 years, the game is what it is: you lose a player and as a team you have to find a way. It makes you more resilient and the team stronger. I do understand why people might think it's needed for freak injuries like mine but there would be too many grey areas or loopholes,” the England cricketer concluded.

Topics mentioned in this article

Chris Woakes Shubman Gill Rishabh Pant England Cricket Team India Cricket Team England vs India, 2025 Cricket