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TimesofIndia.com in Manchester: In an unusual end to the fourth Test at Old Trafford, England skipper Ben Stokes on Sunday offered a handshake to signal a mutual draw, only to be refused by Indian batters Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, both closing in on individual centuries. While the moment drew reactions ranging from amusement to tension, Stokes later revealed his reasoning during the post-match press conference.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!“With the draw inevitable, I wasn’t going to risk any of our main bowlers,” Stokes told reporters in the post-match press conference. “There’s a big game coming up in just three days, and we’ve had a heavy workload. It was just about protecting our resources.”Stokes, who had been nursing visible discomfort and admitted to being “physically a bit bad”, emphasised the need to manage player fatigue. “It’s been a big week at Lord’s and here again. Pain is just an emotion, but everyone’s a bit sore. We’ll need to use the rest period wisely,” he added.
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Was Ben Stokes’ handshake offer to India a good sportsmanship gesture?
At the time of the handshake offer, India were 386/4 with a 75-run lead, having fought back from 0/2 early in their second innings. Jadeja (89 not out) and Sundar (80 not out) had batted England out of the contest with a gritty 150-run stand, showing no signs of slowing down.Stokes’s offer, though rooted in practicality, was declined, and the decision made waves. Sarcastically asking if they “wanted to score a hundred off Harry Brook,” Stokes received a humble reply from Jadeja: “I can’t do anything.” Jadeja later sealed his century with a six off Brook. Sundar also got his ton later.India’s captain Shubman Gill defended the choice to continue batting, saying, “It was up to the boys, but we felt they batted brilliantly. Both of them were in their 90s, and we believed they deserved to get to their centuries.”While England may have found the moment frustrating, it was a reminder of how individual milestones and strategy often shape cricket’s unwritten scripts, especially in the longest format.
