Joe Root believes there is no stopping England captain Ben Stokes after his Herculean effort at Lord’s.

Stokes turned in an iron-man performance to help his side go 2-1 up against India at the home of cricket, scoring 77 runs in two hard-fought innings, taking five wickets and producing a match-changing run-out of Rishabh Pant.

Most remarkable of all was the workload he pushed his body through, sending down 44 overs in all, including muscle-busting spells of 9.2 and 10 overs on the decisive final day.

Now 34, that is the most he has bowled in over six years and comes after two severe hamstring blowouts in the past 12 months.

Root watched on in awe, remembering his own attempts to stop Stokes pushing himself past the limit during his own captaincy.

“You can try, but it doesn’t make any difference. I tried for five years,” he said as both sides embraced some down time before next week’s fourth Test at Emirates Old Trafford.

“I mentioned it, but he doesn’t always listen to me. He didn’t listen to me when I was captain!

“That’s his call now. It was an incredible effort to be able to do that, but that’s just how he’s built, I guess. He’s just desperate to be the man and make things happen.

“It’s a great sign for us moving forward, it really is, because that’s back to his best. He’s got that mentality and that desire to win games and we’re lucky to have him as our leader.”

At one stage in the first innings, head coach Brendon McCullum sent a message via bowling consultant Tim Southee instructing his skipper to take a breather.

Root admits he was also concerned that Stokes might hit breaking point but now accepts that there is only one man who truly knows how far he can go.

“I was just panicking that he wasn’t going to make it through the game after a couple of bad injuries, but he clearly trusts his body now,” said Root.

“He knows what he’s doing and he’s got a good handle on where he’s at physically.”

Root, meanwhile, has returned to the top of the Test batting rankings a week after losing the crown to team-mate Harry Brook. Root made 104 and 40 at Lord’s, while Brook scored a total 34 and drops to third below New Zealand’s Kane Williamson.

Despite delivering another classic Test finish, in front of a fifth consecutive sell-out crowd, England woke on Wednesday to find they had once again been penalised for slow over-rates.

They have been docked two of the 12 points they earned for the win, as well as losing 10 per cent of their match fees.

England lost 22 points in total during the 2023-25 World Test Championship cycle, the most of any nation, and have now become the first to be docked in the new edition.

The England and Wales Cricket Board has unsuccessfully lobbied the International Cricket Council for changes to its assessments, while Stokes has previously stated that he refuses to sign the over-rate sheets in protest.

The ECB feels the high percentage of overs bowled by seamers, as opposed to spinners, adversely affects England and is understood to be frustrated by the latest penalty.

Shoaib Bashir’s broken finger meant he was off the field for long periods, denying them an option to hurry through some overs quicker.