With the India vs England 4th Test ending with a bit of a controversy when Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, both approaching tons, rejected England skipper Ben stokes’ proposal to end the match as a draw an hour ahead of the stipulated time, India head coach Gautam Gambhir asked that if the shoe was on the other foot, would England have done the same?
“If someone is batting on 90 and the other one is batting on 85, don’t they deserve a hundred? Would they have walked off? If someone from England side was batting on 90 and 85 and someone had the opportunity to get his first Test 100, wouldn’t you allow him to do it? They weathered the storm. It’s up to them. If they want to play that way, nothing more to say. I think both those guys deserved a 100 and fortunately they got it,” he said on Sunday at the post-match press conference.
Having worked hard to earn a creditable draw, Jadeja and Washington, batting on 89 and 80 respectively, flatly refused Stokes’ offer after he had approached the umpire, which irked the England skipper no end. With both approaching their hundreds after having saved the match for India who started their second innings 311 runs in arrears, Jadeja and Washington exercised their rights to continue batting.
“Do you want to score a hundred against Harry Brook?” Stokes asked sarcastically and all Jadeja said was “I can’t do anything.” Stokes said later, “We took the game as far as we could. As soon as draw looked inevitable, I wasn’t going to risk my bowlers with the short turnaround (time of three days before the start of fifth Test).”
Amid the drama, a smiling Jadeja maintained his grace and ticked the English players 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 agency inputs)
