England skipper Ben Stokes is hogging headlines for his antics in the final hour of the Manchester Test after India declined his offer of a draw to end the match an hour early.

Stokes approached the umpires and indicated his willingness to offer a draw. However, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar rejected the proposal, leaving the English captain irked.

At the time, Jadeja was batting on 89, 11 short of his fifth Test century, while Sundar was on 80, 20 away from his maiden Test ton.

After India’s decision to carry on batting, Stokes walked towards Jadeja and threw verbal jabs, questioning whether he truly wanted to score a Test hundred against Harry Brook.

Stokes indeed introduced part-timer Brook into the attack and deployed Joe Root from the other end. Both Jadeja and Sundar capitalised on the soft bowling, notching up their respective centuries and then deciding to call it off.

After the game, legendary Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar tore into the English team including Stokes for their ‘whining’ tactics.

“Towards the end of the Test, a few grumpy English players were unhappy that the batters at the crease, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, declined the offer to end the day’s play when England captain Ben Stokes proposed it at the start of the final hour. Instead, they opted to bat on and complete their hundreds. The England players felt that, since there was no chance of a result, the Indians should have accepted the offer to conclude proceedings. They seem to forget that two teams are playing out there, and if one decides to continue, the other simply has to accept it. They made sarcastic remarks about the batters, who were in their 80s, getting to their centuries off the bowling of a batter. What they overlooked was the hard work and resilience the batters had shown against frontline bowlers for over four hours to reach the 80s. If they wanted a hundred for their efforts, England should have denied them with proper bowlers rather than whining about them getting there against Harry Brook,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.

The 76-year-old further stated that if he was the captain, he would have told the batters to play out the remaining overs.

“A Test century isn’t easy and doesn’t come every match, so the batters were fully entitled to bat on and reach their personal landmarks — which they eventually did. If I were the captain, I’d have told them to keep batting and play out the remaining overs, tiring out the fielders even more — especially after the shenanigans by the English players once their offer was declined,” Gavaskar remarked.

In the post-match presser, Stokes defended his move to toss the bowl to Brook and Root, citing that he wasn't willing to risk his frontline bowlers in the last few overs that were left to be bowled.

Gavaskar termed it as England wanting everything to be done as per their wish. “Shubman Gill is a young skipper and a fine gentleman, so after the draw in Manchester, he didn’t ask why England batted on to score over 600 and take a lead of 311. Were they afraid that if the lead was just 250, India might score 500 and then bowl England out for less in the fourth innings? By batting on even after Stokes got his century, England perhaps didn’t leave their bowlers enough time to bowl India out and win the match and with it, the series. Everything cannot be done according to what the England team wants. This is yet another example of that old syndrome: when we do it, it’s right; when the opposition does the same, it’s wrong. Those days are long gone, and no one, least of all the Indian team, is going to simply accept it,” he further wrote.

Gavaskar was also of the opinion that England missed a trick with fading light prior to the final hour.

“There’s only a three-day break before the next Test. If England didn’t want two more centuries recorded against them, they could have brought the quicks back on. The natural light was deteriorating, and the floodlights were on. Had Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse been given the ball, the umpires might have intervened and stopped play — so perhaps England missed a trick there,” he said.

India are currently 1-2 behind in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy but have a golden opportunity to draw the series in the finale, set to begin on July 31 at The Oval.

“These little irritants aside, it has been a terrific series, and the cricket from both sides has been riveting. The fifth and final Test at The Oval will hopefully deliver another thriller to round off what has been one of the finest Test series, a pleasure and privilege to watch,” Gavaskar concluded.