ENG vs IND | James Anderson recalls an incident when Stokes asked him to score the winning runs

England Test pacer James Anderson said Ben Stokes wanted him to finish the rescheduled fifth Test by scoring the winning runs with the bat.

Speaking on the Tailenders Podcast, Anderson revealed a dressing story on the last day of the Edgbaston Test against India, when England captain Ben Stokes asked him to go and finish the game when they needed just 20 runs and he felt really uncomfortable on the same.

“So Stokesy (Ben Stokes) comes up to me and said, ‘You’ve never hit the winning runs. So if we need four to win, and (Ravindra) Jadeja’s bowling, for example, do you fancy going in and hitting the winning runs?’

I just felt really uncomfortable with it. I thought it was a little bit too piss-takey. So I was like, ‘I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that’," James Anderson told The Tailenders Podcast.

Anderson then further said that everyone in the dressing room was relaxed as they were confident that the set pair of Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow will pull off the great run chase.

"Stuart Broad had decided he wasn’t going in, so he took his pads off. Sam Billings didn’t have his pads on. I wouldn’t put my pads on. And Ben Stokes also didn’t put his pads on. So we had no one padded up for the last 20 runs of that game. That’s how relaxed everyone was," Anderson concluded.

With seven wickets remaining on the last day and 119 runs needed with two experienced set batters in, England went all-out against the Indian pacers and pulled off a miraculous chase in the first session itself. 

Root and Bairstow helped the side reach the target in 76.4 overs with a historic unbeaten 269-run partnership for the fourth wicket, recording their respective centuries in the process as well.

The hosts also recorded their highest-ever run-chase score of 378 at Edgbaston, Birmingham, to level the series 2-2.