England captain Ben Stokes expressed admiration for Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar after their marathon stand helped India secure a draw in the fourth Test at Old Trafford. The left-handed duo stitched together a resilient 203-run partnership over 55.2 overs, rescuing India from a precarious position and keeping their hopes of a 2-2 series result alive.
Despite being offered a draw by Stokes in the final hour, India opted to continue, allowing Jadeja, on 89, and Washington, on 80, to reach personal milestones. In the next few overs, Jadeja struck his fifth Test century while Sundar notched his maiden ton in red-ball cricket.
“The knock that those two played was very, very good,” Stokes acknowledged during the post-match press conference. “That partnership was massive… they played incredibly well.”
Stokes: “Ten More Runs Don’t Change the Outcome”
Stokes emphasized that the act of saving the game outweighed individual statistics. “I don’t think there would’ve been too much more satisfaction from walking off a hundred not out… the 10 more runs ain’t gonna change the fact that you’ve managed to get your team out of a very tricky situation.”
As England turned to part-time bowlers like Harry Brook and Joe Root late in the game, the on-field action took on a more relaxed tone. Brook, with a casual bowling action, even voiced confusion about the prolonged play.
Stokes justified the decision, citing the workload on his frontline bowlers and the quick turnaround before the fifth Test at The Oval. “We weren’t going to risk our main bowlers… I said [to Brook] don’t do anything daft.”
Indian Camp Applauds Batters’ Milestones
From the Indian side, praise poured in for Jadeja and Sundar. Former cricketer Gautam Gambhir and current captain Shubman Gill both defended the decision to continue batting.
“𝑰𝒇 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 90 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒏 85, 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒅?” 𝑮𝒂𝒎𝒃𝒉𝒊𝒓 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅. “𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒎. 𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆.”
Gill, reflecting on the draw, highlighted the lessons learned in his debut series as captain.
“𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒊𝒗𝒆. 𝑾𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒚 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒑… 𝒊𝒇 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉, 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔.”
The teams now head to The Oval for the final Test, beginning July 31.
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