The England team was on the field 143 overs, and that weren’t enough for them to get India’s 10 wickets. In fact, they could get only four, despite getting the first two in the opening over of the third innings. The frustration was palpable on Ben Stokes‘ face, when he offered the draw to Ravindra Jadeja, who was batting on 89 them, who declined the offer.
Ben Stokes vs Ravindra Jadeja at Manchester
There were attempts to rattle the batters — Jaddu and Washington Sundar, who too was chasing his maiden Test ton. Stokes, Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley stooped down to the level of verbally attacking Jadeja, but the latter was in no mood to relent. He went on to get his fifth ton, and so did Washi.
England Skipper’s Lame Excuse
Post the match got over, Ben Stokes revealed the reason for his frustration. He went on to say that, with The Oval Test only three days away, he did not want to risk an injury to the pacers.
“All the hard work was done by India. Didn’t want to risk my fast bowlers with any injuries towards the end. Liam Dawson bowled a lot of overs too,” the skipper said. “Even before this Test, there were conversations around how much effort and energy have gone into the bowling department. Bowlers will be assessed over the next couple of days.”
But then Nasser Hussain, former England skipper, wasn’t in agreement of what transpired on the field in the final 15 minutes. In the Skysports broadcast, he went on to say that, both Jadeja and Washi deserved the 100s, and did the right thing to stay there.
