During the match, when the last 15 overs were left, England skipper Ben Stokes, along with his teammates Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, were seen asking Jadeja to shake hands and finish the game. But India's premier all-rounder, Jadeja, along with Washington Sundar, were nearing their respective centuries
England's captain Ben Stokes (L) shakes hands with India's Ravindra Jadeja (R) for a draw on day five of the fourth cricket test match between England and India at Old Trafford, in Manchester, north England. Pic/AFP
The fourth Test match between Team India and England ended in a draw after a classic play for all five days.
During the match, when the last 15 overs were left, England skipper Ben Stokes, along with his teammates Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, were seen asking Jadeja to shake hands and finish the game. But India's premier all-rounder, Jadeja, along with Washington Sundar, were nearing their respective centuries.
Speaking about the incident in the post-match press conference, Stokes said, "I think we took the game as far as we could with our frontline bowlers to take it as far as we could to think like we've got a real chance of still winning this game".
He also said that when the match reached the point where a draw was unavoidable, he didn't want to risk any of his premier bowlers.
"But as soon as it got to that point where it was the draw's inevitable here, I was never going to risk any of my frontline bowlers with the short turnaround that we have and the workload that we've got through this week and throughout the series as well. So yeah, as soon as, you know, the 15 overs or last hour was there, it was always going to be a shake hands," he added.
Further, Stokes said that he didn't want any of his fast bowlers to take extra workload, especially Harry Brook.
"As I said, the only other person who's actually got any bowling workload into them is Harry Brook. But I did have to tell him, 'Please don't do anything stupid.' We spent a lot of time out in the field, can't have you pulling aside or doing anything different. Naturally, you'll be fatigued, even if you don't bowl. So I was just like, just get through this period. But yeah, I wasn't going to risk any of my, you know, proper bowling options in that situation when we knew what was going on," said the 34-year-old.
Recapping the Manchester Test, stellar centuries from Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar in the second innings guided India to secure a draw in the fourth test match of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against England at Old Trafford, Manchester, on Sunday.
India batted for more than five sessions to save the Manchester Test. India, at the end of the final session on Day 5, was 425/4, with Jadeja 107* and Sundar 101* unbeaten at the crease. The duo added 203 runs for the fifth wicket.
Ben Stokes was awarded player of the match for his brilliant five-wicket haul, followed by a stellar hundred in the first innings. This was his consecutive POTM award in the ongoing series.
(With ANI Inputs)
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
