India, July 26 -- At Old Trafford on Saturday, Ben Stokes became the fifth captain to score a hundred and take a five-wicket haul in the same Test. The last time that happened in Test cricket, India were still six months away from winning their first World Cup. Records have a curious way of unearthing new takers but not when it comes to all-rounders, especially the kind that bowls fast.

Which is why Stokes emulating Imran Khan while becoming only the third player to complete the double of scoring 7,000 runs and taking 200-plus wickets in Test cricket, after Garry Sobers and Jacques Kallis, isn't merely an achievement, but a milestone. It's proof that allrounders aren't a dying breed yet.

You couldn't have seen this coming when Stokes re...