The game was sure to end in a draw but the two Indian batsmen Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar needed 20 odd runs to get their hundreds. England captain Ben Stokes, a self-proclaimed hater of individual milestones in drawn game, wanted the game to end.
Stokes headed to Jadeja for a handshake that would officially bring an end. “It’s not on me who can decide when the game is over.” – Jadeja could be heard refusing the offer on the stump microphone. He would point to the Indian skipper Shubman Gill standing in the dressing room balcony and who seemed to be enjoying the resolute batting of his batsmen. Stokes would throw the ball to part-timers, reducing the final phase of the thrilling Test to a farce. Harry Brook would bowl loopy full tosses and rank long hops.
Jadeja would soon complete his hundred but Washington would take time to reach his maiden ton. The Tamil Nadu all-rounder would defend a couple of balls and the English frustration would peak.
Bowler Harry Brook would sledge – “F*&#ing hell Washi, get on with it”. Pacer Jofra Archer too would chip in. “If you wanted a hundred you should have batted like it earlier,” he would say.
The other England players too would start chirping. Opener Zak Crawley would utter: “If you shake our hands, it’s done.” England’s motor-mouth opener Ben Duckett couldn’t keep quiet. “How long do you need, an hour?”, he would check.
But the Indians would still take their own sweet time. Washi would eventually complete his hundred and the two teams would eventually shake hands.
Though, it was a draw, this was a moral victory for Indians in many ways. One, they had managed an unlikely draw and had also got the nerves of the English. Stokes and his men, despite an all-out effort, failed to have any impact on the Indian batsmen. They seem to have put all their energy into winning this Test. England were keen to seal the series at Old Trafford but that was not to be.
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Stokes was walking wounded – dodgy shoulder, strained hamstring and pain in lower back being some of his ailments. England seemed to have punted too heavily for a win at Old Trafford and now they looked worried. They have a problem at hand for the Oval.
Two of their pacers – Brydon Carse and Chris Woakes – have played all four Tests and would be crying for a break. The medical advice for Jofra Archer – the pacer returning from long injury break – would be against him playing a Test with a three-day turn over.
Stokes would justify bowling Brook towards the end. “All the hard work was done by India, they both played incredibly well. They got to the point where there was only one result and there was no chance I would risk a fast bowler with injury. [Liam Dawson] had bowled so many overs and he was tired and cramping. I wasn’t risking any of my frontline bowlers in the last half hour.”
Indian captain Shubman Gill would clarify his stand of playing on. “It’s no less than a win for us, this draw. I think both the batsmen batted brilliantly, both were around 90. A Test hundred is a Test hundred and we thought they deserved a century. We thought three or four overs is not a lot of overs.”
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Former England player Michael Vaughan would say: “I quite admired it. The young captain, the two out in the middle could have shaken hands but they had played so well and fought hard. You earn the right to get three figures. The last 10 runs were farcical, but you earn the right and India deserve a huge amount of credit.”
