During the beginning of the last hour of India-England fourth Test, a strange situation occurred when Ben Stokes offered a draw to the Indian batsmen. It is true that there was no possibility of defeat and victory in the match, but at that time Jadeja was playing 89 and Washington 80 runs. Due to this, Jadeja and Sundar rejected the offer of Stokes. Stokes later said that he had given this proposal because he did not want to risk his tired chief bowlers.
Ravichandran Ashwin termed Stokes offer on his YouTube channel as double standard. He said, ‘Have you heard the word double standards? He (Jadeja-Sundar) played your bowlers all day. Facing them and when they get closer to a century, do you want to go out? Why should they (Stokes) do this? ‘ The former off -spinner said, ‘He faced all your bowlers since morning and took the match to the draw. But you want them not to complete their century? ‘
Both Ashwin and veteran Sunil Gavaskar said that they too would let India bat compulsory 15 overs. Ashwin said, ‘If I were the Indian captain, I would play the entire 15 overs.’ Gavaskar reiterated the same thing on ‘Sony Sports’, ‘I would ask him to bathe and keep the team on the field for the entire 15 overs.’
It was your decision to bring the brook, not ours…
When England player Jadeja surrounded Jadeja, Stokes said in a sarcastic tone, “Are you going to score a Test century against Harry Brook (Sproorior Bowler)?” Ashwin said, ‘You ask that you want to score a century against Harry Brook? He has to score a century, you bring Steve Hormison, Andrew Flintoff, bring any bowler. He (Indian batter) did not object, it was your decision to bring Brook, not ours.
Brad Hadin supports India
Former Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Brad Hadin criticized England’s poor sportsmanship. Hadin said on ‘Willotockpodcast’, ‘India showed tremendous struggle on the last day. Then suddenly such a situation came that England said that they cannot win, so let’s stop the game because England does not want to play anymore. He said, ‘I liked what India did, they have the right to stay on the field till they want. He had the right to score a century. Just because the match did not go in favor of England and he did not get the desired result, suddenly he (England) got angry and started saying anything.
Cook also left England
Former England captain Alastair Cook also supported India’s decision and said that this rhythm will prove beneficial for the visiting team before the fifth and last Test match at Oval. On the ‘Test Match Special’ of the BBC, Cook said, “It was the right decision for (Jadeja and Washington) to maintain the rhythm which would benefit him. When you (England) stay on the field for 140 overs, you get disappointed. So it is a little disappointment for England but I think why India did this.