On Day 5 of the fourth Test match against England at Old Trafford, captain of the Indian cricket team Shubman Gill disclosed that Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar had agreed not to 'shake hands' with Ben Stokes to conclude the match in a draw with 15 overs remaining.
With 15 overs left in the day, Stokes went up to the batter to force a draw. Nevertheless, Sundar and Jadeja both chose to play on since they were within touching distance of their limits. The hitters ultimately scored their respective hundreds, proving that their choice was the right one.
Sundar made 101*, and Jadeja remained at 107* as India made 425/4 when the players from both sides actually shook hands and the match ended in a draw. With this, England still leads the series 2-1, with the final Test to be played at the Oval from July 31.
Shubman Gill, speaking at the match presentation, revealed that the team thought both Jadeja and Sundar deserved centuries, as they had batted hard to ensure India didn’t lose the Test. Hence, they had decided to accept Stokes’ offer to shake hands and draw the match when it was offered first.
“Extremely pleased with the batting effort. Over the past couple of days, we were put under tremendous pressure. It's all about taking the wicket out of the equation. Day 5 wicket: something is happening; every ball is an event. Wanted to take it ball by ball and take it deep, which is what we spoke about.
We thought they (Jadeja and Sundar) batted brilliantly, they were in their 90s, we thought they deserved a century there (about the decision to not shake hands). Every match goes till the last session on the last day. Plenty of learnings. Has taught us a lot as a group. It doesn't matter how many runs you've scored in the past. Every time you walk wearing the whites of the country, there are some jitters. That tells how much I care about playing for the country,” Gill said at the match presentation.
"In the first innings, we did post a good total. But a lot of our batters did get set. It's important on these wickets for set batters to go deep. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. But pleased with the way we were able to do that in the second innings. Will have to wait and see (about Bumrah). As long as we're winning the match (at the Oval), I don't care about the toss," Gill added.
(PTI inputs)
