India head coach Gautam Gambhir has strongly backed his batters’ decision to continue batting on last hour of the Day 5 of the fifth Test in Manchester and complete their centuries, even as English captain Ben Stokes offered a handshake for a draw.
During the last hour of the fifth day of the fourth Test, England captain Ben Stokes proposed ending the match in a draw with a handshake. However, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, who were batting on 89 and 80 respectively and eyeing three figure mark, declined Stokes’ proposal and opted to continue batting. Jadeja and Sundar’s decision left Stokes frustrated and it led to a heated on-field exchange between players of both teams.
During the post-match press conference, Gambhir was asked about the incident and he gave a blunt response.
“If someone is batting on 90 and the other is batting on 85, don’t they deserve a hundred? Would they have walked off? If someone from England would’ve been batting on 90 or 85 and had the opportunity to score their first Test hundred, wouldn’t you allow them to do it? See, it’s up to them. If they want to play that way, it’s up to them. I think both of those guys deserved a hundred, and they got it,” said Gambhir.
After denying Stokes’ request, Jadeja got his century by dancing down the pitch to whack Brook for six and smacked another full toss from the part-timer for four.
Sundar then smacked Brook over extra cover for four, bringing up 200 of his partnership with Jadeja before a flick got him the two runs needed to raise his first Test century. Immediately after, the players shook hands for real to end the game in a draw, with India being the happier side.