England captain Ben Stokes believes even if Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar did not score centuries in the second innings of the Manchester Test, one couldn't have undermined their efforts as the duo helped India walk away with a memorable draw in the fourth match of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. The final half an hour on Day 5 witnessed some high drama after the Indian batters refused to accept Ben Stokes' call of shaking hands early, and calling the game off as a draw was the only probable result.
Both Jadeja and Sundar hadn't gotten their centuries then, so it is not surprising that the duo did not shake hands with their English counterparts. When Stokes offered to call the contest off, Jadeja and Sundar were batting on 89 and 80, respectively.
However, Stokes and Co. were not pleased with Jadeja and Sundar's call, and they let their feelings be known by saying some unpleasant and nasty words in the middle.
England turned to part-timers Harry Brook and Joe Root as Stokes decided to give his frontline bowlers a rest. Brook bowled full toss after full toss with an almost standstill action.
“The knock that those two played was very, very good. 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. 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,” Stokes told reporters in the post-match press conference.
“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,” he added.
No risk to frontline bowlers
Stokes also explained his decision to employ Harry Brook and Joe Root. He said he wanted to rest his frontline bowlers as there is just a three-day turnaround period for the fifth and final Test at the Oval, which begins on Thursday, July 31.
"We were willing to take it as far as we possibly could and throw everything at them that we did, but it got to that point where there was obviously only one result left on the table and I wasn't going to be risking any of my frontline bowlers in a situation like that, especially when we've got a quick turnaround," he said.
“The only other person who actually has any bowling workload in them is Harry Brook. But I did have to say to him, Please don't do anything stupid. We've been out in the field for 200-and-whatever overs, we've got a quick turnaround, so just do what needs to be done. I said don't do anything daft: don't pull a side, don't pull a hamstring. We knew what was going on there,” he added.
England lead the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2-1, and there's everything to play for both India and England in the fifth and final Test.