Follow UsAfter almost a controversy-free last day in Manchester, there was a lot of tension in the air during the last hour when England skipper Ben Stokes offered a draw. While in any other situation, the two Indian batters - Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar - would have accepted it happily, but not in this case.
Why? Jadeja was batting on 89, chasing his second century in England, and Washington was on 80, as 20 runs from there could have helped him get to his first Test century. However, Stokes wasn’t too happy with the move, as the England skipper shook his head.
India head coach Gautam Gambhir joined in the conversation, questioning Stokes’ intentions, adding, ‘Would England have walked off if their batters were on 90 and 85?’
"If someone is batting on 90 and the other one is batting on 85, wouldn't they deserve a hundred? Would they have walked off if someone from England side would've been batting on 90 or 85?” Gambhir slammed Stokes in the post-match press conference.
"If someone has the opportunity to get his first Test hundred, wouldn't you allow him to do it? They weather the storm. It's up to them. If they want to play that way, that's up to them. I've got nothing more to say. I think both those guys deserve a hundred, and fortunately, they got it in the end,” he added.
Stokes, on the other hand, insisted 10 more runs from either of them wasn’t going to change the fact that they batted incredibly well to bail India out of a terrible loss.
"The situation that India found themselves in there, with us opening the game slightly, that partnership was massive. You hold your hands up, they played incredibly, incredibly well,” Stokes applauded Washington and Jadeja.
“And I don't think there would've been too much more satisfaction from walking off a hundred not out, getting your team out of a tricky situation, than walking off at 80, 90 not out. That's what you've done for your team. You know, the 10 more runs or whatever it was ain't gonna change the fact that you've managed to get your team out of a very, very, very tricky situation and almost saved your team from a series defeat before the last game."
Eventually, the two teams agreed to a draw, after Washington got a double against Harry Brook to complete his maiden Test century.