Indian cricket team skipper Shubman Gill revealed that it was decided by Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar to not ‘shake hands’ with Ben Stokes to end the match in a draw with 15 overs to play on Day 5 of the fourth Test match against England at Old Trafford. Stokes approached the batters with 15 overs remaining in the day to end the game in a draw. However, both Jadeja and Sundar were within touching distance of their boundaries and decided to continue playing. It turned out to be the right decision for the batters as both of them ended up scoring their respective centuries.
“Extremely pleased with the batting effort. Past couple of days we were put under tremendous pressure. It’s all about taking the wicket out of the equation. Day 5 wicket, something is happening, every ball is an event. Wanted to take it ball by ball and take it deep, which is what we spoke about.”
“We thought they deserved a century there (about the decision to not shake hands). Every match going till the last session on the last day. Plenty of learnings. Has taught us a lot as a group. Doesn’t matter how many runs you’ve scored in the past. Every time you walk wearing the whites of the country, there are some jitters. That tells how much I care playing for the country.”
“In the first innings, we did post a good total. But a lot of our batters did get set. Important on these wickets for set batters to go deep. Unfortunately it didn’t happen. But pleased with the way we were able to do that in the second innings. Will have to wait and see (about Bumrah). As long as we’re winning the match (at the Oval), don’t care about the toss,” Gill said at the post-match presentation.
Stokes had a few words to say as Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett were also seen enquiring as to why India wanted to carry on.
“Do you want to score a hundred against Harry Brook?” Stokes asked sarcastically and all Jadeja said was “I can’t do anything.” A smiling Jadeja maintained his grace and ticked them off as India, as per rules, were well within their rights to carry on batting.
In what seemed like a mark of protest, Stokes introduced Harry Brook into the attack and Jadeja hit him for a six to complete his third Test hundred.
(With PTI inputs)
