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Ben Stokes has hit back at Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar for not going for the draw and instead chasing their milestones. Drama erupted at the start of the final hour of the match on Sunday when home skipper Ben Stokes offered to shake hands with Indian batters, realising that an outright result was not possible.
Jadeja and Washington batting on 89 and 80 respectively refused the offer, leaving the England captain frustrated. Stokes later said that he made the offer since he didn’t want to risk injury to his fatigued frontline bowlers.“The situation that India found themselves in there with us opening the game open slightly, that partnership was massive,” Ben Stokes was quoted by The Times.“You hold your hands up. They played incredibly, incredibly well. I don’t think there would have been too much more satisfaction from walking off 100 not out, getting your team out of a tricky situation, than walking off at 80 or 90 not out. That’s what you’ve done for your team.“Ten more runs, or whatever it was, isn’t going to change the fact that you managed to get your team out of a very, very tricky situation and almost saved your team from a series defeat before the last game.”India eventually called it a draw once both Jadeja and Washington brought up their centuries. It was Washington’s maiden Test ton.
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“As soon as it got to that point where the draw’s inevitable, I was never going to risk any of my frontline bowlers with the short turnaround that we have and the workload that we’ve got through this week and throughout the series as well,” Stokes said. “As soon as the 15 overs or last hour was there, it was always going to be a shake hands.The Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy is evenly poised with England leading the five-match series 2-1. The fifth and final Test will start from Thursday at the Oval.
