The 4th Test between England and India finished this past Sunday. It was an intense contest that ended with a draw. While everything seemed fine, careful observation would suggest that everything isn't rosy. England captain, Ben Stokes, wanted to end it on the stroke of the last hour of the 5th day while the Indian batters who were at the crease, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, chose to continue so that they could reach their respective centuries. These contrasting actions have stirred up a debate.
It's weird what offends cricketers.
They work with an opaque internal moral code of conduct. They can legit bully players in the name of sledging after singling out who they feel are "mentally weak," but hell hath no fury like a batter scorned by a run-out backing up; which is well within the laws of the game. They can desperately appeal for wickets when they know the batter is not out but their side were out of reviews. They can bend the laws for every last bit of advantage and then take offence at someone running the clock out or getting treatment on the field. Or someone batting on for a well-earned milestone after having batted the best part of a day to save a Test and keep his team alive in a series.
Ben Stokes is an elite competitor. The game of cricket is immensely richer for him. He leaves everything out on the field even if it means he is absent for his family between Tests. This was his 12th Player-of-the-Match award in Test cricket. Only 12 men have more. Not long ago, he and his team were gracious in victory, checking on a crestfallen Mohammed Siraj practically seconds after taking the last wicket at Lord's.
Here they were, going on and on about India not accepting their offer for a draw at the start of the mandatory overs.
The teams had been at it for hours and days. At that stage, Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja had withstood everything England could throw at them. They were 80* and 89*, respectively. Washington has previously run out of partners on 85 and 96 in Tests. This would be his maiden Test hundred.
England went into this righteous fit the moment their offer for the draw wasn't accepted.
There is no specific morally superior way of playing the game. The laws of the game clearly say you can't consider a game over until the overs are bowled or both captains have agreed on ending the game prematurely.
Just like England were right to offer the draw when they didn't see another result possible, Shubman Gill, the India captain, was well within his rights to let his two rescuers go on and have a moment of personal glory on top of a gigantic effort in the absence of their best batter of the last five years, Rishabh Pant.
The same dressing room stood up and applauded Joe Root, a great Test batter, when he got to a hundred. They got twitchy when Root had to go to stumps unbeaten on 99.
They can't say with a straight face that personal milestones don't matter. If they come at the expense of a team's interests, it's that team's problem. In this case, there was no such possibility. India would've had to live with it if they had lost wickets in pursuit of the milestones and left open a window for a daring England chase, but they were confident that couldn't happen.
The meltdown that ensued can happen in the heat of the moment. When you are at the absolute brink of physical endurance - like England were - the mind can get frayed. However, even after he had had an hour to think about his actions, Stokes still chose to virtue-signal. When asked if he would have pulled the plug on a young batter a few hits away from a maiden Test century after having batted through the day, Stokes said he couldn't see how the extra ten runs made any difference to what Washington and Jadeja had already done.
If this piece was about whataboutism, it would have pointed out the Wellington declaration, made soon after Root's century to set New Zealand a target of 583, or the declaration with a 352-run lead against Ireland in 2023, made soon after Ollie Pope's double-century.
Those extra few runs were not making a difference to England's team goals but this is not about that at all.
It's about not trying to impose your values on others.
Ben Duckett asked sarcastically how much of the last hour Ravindra Jadeja, 89 not out and Washington Sundar, on 80, would need for their centuries. Zak Crawley, cutting right to the chase, called it "embarrassing."
It turns out all they needed was about 15 minutes. Ben Stokes, eventually, had his offer to shake hands on his first non-rain-affected draw accepted. Though those 15 minutes made this formality much colder, neither Jadeja nor Washington cared. Likewise, the crowd, now predominantly Indian, who had stuck around for the cherry on top of this impressively composed rearguard from their heroes.
Another time, England will have seen such joyous scenes from their opponents as a reflection of their superiority. It was on this ground 20 years ago that a great Australia team lauded it up on the away balcony after escaping nine down to keep the Ashes series at 1-1. "Look, the mighty Aussies are celebrating a draw with England - we've got them now…" Michael Vaughan had told his players then.
India can't win this series now but Shubman Gill could offer a similar view of the sour attitude displayed by England in the dregs of day five. They fought hard and ended up rattling an opponent that had hitherto dominated this Test match. As understandably frustrated the hosts were at being kept on the field for - eventually - 143 overs, India may well view the frayed tempers, which exacerbate the tired bodies, as an extra advantage going into the final Test. Getting out of the series with a 2-2 scoreline would make this a successful tour.
If England were irked by Jadeja's milestone-hunting, they could've just dismissed him first ball. Jofra Archer got one to lift and take the left-hand batter's edge but Joe Root missed two attempts to claim it at first slip.
Archer was flying, having removed Gill for 103, though even that took three attempts. Saturday's drop by Liam Dawson at gully (with Gill on 46) was followed on Sunday by Ollie Pope (with Gill on 81) at cover.
It's pretty obvious England's anger at how the match concluded wasn't squarely on two players bagging deserved hundreds. Though they arrived on Sunday morning still with eight wickets to get after two wicketless sessions the day before,and just 137 of their 311 first-innings lead intact, confidence was high.
For once, the Dukes balls played ball. Neither side had it changed over the course of the five days. Zak Crawley was warned by the umpires for throwing the ball short of wicketkeeper, Jamie Smith, to scuff a surface for some reverse swing showed the ball remained hard throughout.
"It's been a series so far of hard toil, in particular the bowling units from both sides," Stokes said at the end, himself having been afflicted with calf, left hamstring and right bicep tendon issues in this match alone, even if they have been compounded by the 140 overs in his body since the start of the series.
"You've really had to work really, really hard for your rewards. We're not going to hide away from the fact that it's been a very tough four games so far for the guys who have played, in particular the bowling unit."
Pitches like these, even if they have been tailored to England's needs to an extent, are why they have assembled a battery of quicks who are either tall enough to hit the deck hard enough to extract what life there is, or fast enough to cause discomfort.
Injuries have dwindled those resources, meaning rotation across the four Tests has been non-existent. Archer replacing Josh Tongue from the third Test onwards has been the only change to a pace attack running on fumes.
Gus Atkinson would've likely come in for Chris Woakes in Manchester had he been deemed fit enough. Though he was unable to get into Surrey's first team this week, he will come into contention for the fifth Test. Jamie Overton, who did play for Surrey against Yorkshire (albeit only bowling in the first innings, with 0-81 from 14 overs) will join him when the squad meets up in London.
Mark Wood had initially earmarked the final match for a return from knee surgery but has been held back. Though Stokes says he will give the current attack - including himself - as much time as possible to recover ahead of Thursday's start at the Kia Oval, a refresh of the pack is overdue.
There is a reason England did not go back to Jack Leach when Bashir broke his finger at Lord's. It's the same reason they plumped for Bashir at the start of the 2024 summer over the man who is forcing him to leave Somerset. In Dawson, they see the variety of a banker who is a talented all-rounder. Here, they would have liked Bashir's big-revs, big rip, big dip from a great height.
Sunday, for all the ill-feeling, did at least vindicate the decisions the England management have made to grow and fine-tune their approach. It's a vindication that, right now, will not nourish them all that much.
As the team sipped beers in the home dressing room on Sunday evening, they would have toasted their hard work. Another cheers to Root ascending to second on the Test run charts. A further one to Stokes marrying a first five-wicket haul in eight years with a first century in two.
For all the history and glory achieved, they will want to forget about this day as quickly as possible.
Former England captain, Nasser Hussain, slammed Ben Stokes for his "silly" reaction after he tossed the ball to Harry Brook in what seemed like a mark of protest.
Drama unfolded during the high-intensity Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy match in Manchester on Sunday after Indian batters, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, declined England skipper Ben Stokes' offer to call off the fourth Test and settle for a draw before the start of the final hour of play.
"I didn't have a problem. England seemed to have a problem with it, they were a little bit tired, tired bowlers, tired legs. They wanted to get off. The two lads have worked hard to get into the eighties, they wanted Test match hundreds. Stokes didn’t have to bowl Brook, and it looked a bit silly at the end there, but we make far too much of these things. They played well, they deserved a draw, they deserved to be there at the end," Hussain said.
Hussain was, in fact, full of praise for India’s resilience in securing a draw after a disastrous start to their second innings, losing two wickets for zero in the very first over on Day 4. The recovery began with a crucial 188-run partnership between Gill and Rahul for the third wicket, setting the platform for India’s fightback. The effort was later consolidated by the unbroken 203-run partnership between Jadeja and Sundar.
"All credit to India. It's only England’s second-ever draw under this Bazball regime — the other one on this ground as well; because of rain. This one was a draw simply because England couldn’t roll over the two left-handers, who were brilliant," Hussain added.
Amid a barrage of criticism aimed at England captain Ben Stokes for his final-hour antics following a no-handshake from Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar during Day 5 of the fourth Test match of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series, the all-rounder finally found support from compatriot, Jonathan Trott. The former England cricketer rather lashed out at Jadeja for prioritising "personal milestone" over the result.
Speaking to JioStar, Trott claimed that Stokes would have accepted the draw if the roles were reversed and Shubman Gill had offered the handshake. He further said that in the Bazball era, results mattered more than "personal milestones," thus taking a dig at Jadeja.
"In his mind, the game's done. I don't think England would have had the personal milestones on their mind personally, that's just my view. Maybe if somebody was close to getting it, their maiden century, it would have been a little bit different," the former England batter said.
"You could tell by the way that Ben Stokes has reacted that if they were in the same seat, they probably would have shook the Indian captain's hand if it was offered – if Shubman Gill went up to the English batsman and they were in the same position, they would have walked off. That's what Test cricket's about. It's played hard, it's played fair, but there's also a code and a sort of ethos that the game is played with equal respect for each other."
However, former India batter, Sanjay Manjrekar, who was part of the panel, didn't agree with Trott as he labelled Stokes a "spoiled kid," saying that the home team rather "made a mockery of the game" by bowling part-timer Brook at the end.
"Okay fine, he's unhappy that the players haven't walked off, he'll have to manage his overs carefully with main bowlers already exhausted from bowling long spells whole day," Manjrekar said. "But throwing lollipops in the air and showing a little bit of grumpiness out there, that was Ben Stokes behaving like a spoiled kid."
"I can understand him being surprised India wanted to continue ... but everything won't go as per your wishes – he should've handled that better. It was Ben, the hero, the champion that I admire, on that occasion behaving like a spoiled kid."
England legend, Kevin Pietersen, decided to join the bandwagon and defended Stokes. He also lashed out at the critics in a statement on X.
He wrote, "2 days fielding and no result on the cards - you WANT to get off the field! You cannot have a pop at Ben Stokes for his frustration. Very easy to have a pop at him when you’re sitting in your lounge watching. You’re NOT in the battle. Leave the men in the ring to be emotional."
"And the Stokes issue should NOT distract from the batters who batted to save the Test Match! Outstanding effort and one which makes The Oval a v v important Test," he added in another post.
Australia’s lead spinner, Nathan Lyon, took a tongue-in-cheek dig at England for the handshake controversy that erupted at The Oval during the fourth Test of the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.
"Get them out. Don’t let them get a hundred," Lyon said. The spinner was also critical of the flat pitches being used in England. He said fans want to watch the competition between bat and ball and not what’s happening in the series.
"The conditions over here (in Australia), it’s always been a great competition between bat and ball and that’s the way Australia’s produced wickets like that. So it’s going to be challenging for their batters and challenging for our batters. That’s the way cricket should be, you want to see competition between bat and ball," he stressed. "I think that’s crucial and all the fans, that’s what they want to see, they don’t really want to watch what happened over in Manchester last week," he quipped.
Speaking to the BBC after the match, Stokes explained that he wanted to wrap up the match before his bowlers were already exhausted, keeping in mind the short turnaround before the series final at the Oval, which will begin on Thursday.
"We were willing to take it as far as we possibly could and throw everything at them that we did, but it got to that point where there was obviously only one result left on the table," Stokes said. "I wasn't going to be risking any of my frontline bowlers in a situation like that, especially when we've got a quick turnaround."
The 5th Test hasn't started yet but India coach, Gautam Gambhir, has already started up trouble. He has been involved in a confrontation with Surrey ground staff during a training session before Thursday's fifth and final Test against England at The Oval.
Video footage from the net session shows Gambhir pointing his finger at Lee Fortis, Surrey's head of ground staff and the India coach can be heard shouting "you can't tell us what to do" and "you're just the groundsman, nothing beyond."
Speaking in a news conference afterwards, India batting coach, Sitanshu Kotak - who was present during the incident - said the coaches were inspecting the wicket for the Test and were asked to move away.
"When we were standing on the wicket looking at it, one of the ground staff came and said to stand two and half metres away from here. In my cricketing career I have never seen anybody saying that," said Kotak.
"Literally he was saying that 'you can go outside the rope' to the head coach and see the wicket. I don't know how you can see. If someone was brushing their shoes, or somebody is trying to put something on the wicket or somebody wearing spikes - if the curator feels that then fine - but it was a very strange way of saying it."
Kotak continued: "Curators are a little over-protective or possessive about the square and the ground. [They] need to understand that the people they are talking to are highly skilled and intelligent people.
"When you are working with very intelligent and highly skilled people, if you sound a bit arrogant, you can be protective - but at the end of the day it's a cricket pitch. It's not an antique that you can't touch because it's 200 years old and it can be broken. That's what I feel."
With no specific outdoor practice area, India used three practice wickets surrounded by nets close to the Test match pitch, which is standard procedure.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is reportedly preparing for a significant shake-up in the national team’s coaching setup, with the futures of bowling coach, Morne Morkel and assistant coach, Ryan ten Doeschate, hanging in the balance. While head coach Gautam Gambhir is expected to retain his position, doubts are mounting over the effectiveness of his chosen support staff.
According to a report in The Telegraph, the BCCI will conduct a formal review of the coaching unit following the conclusion of the ongoing Test series against England. However, any major decisions, including potential removals, are likely to be made only after the Asia Cup 2025, scheduled for September.
The current coaching setup came into effect post the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. Since then, the team’s performances, particularly in the Test format, have drawn sharp criticism from both fans and analysts. Poor team selections during the England series have further fueled dissatisfaction within the BCCI.
Among those under the spotlight, former South African pacer Morne Morkel appears to be facing the most heat. Despite his stature as a seasoned international bowler, the BCCI reportedly feels he has failed to make a meaningful impact on India’s pace battery.
"There’s a belief in the BCCI that he hasn’t been able to nurture even a single pacer," a source close to the developments told The Telegraph. With the Indian fast bowling unit continuing to struggle, Jasprit Bumrah being the lone exception, questions have been raised about Morkel’s effectiveness in his role.
Similarly, assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate, who was also appointed under Gambhir’s leadership, is believed to be on thin ice. His role in team strategy and selections has come under the scanner after India’s inconsistent performances.
Adding to the coaching staff’s woes is the controversial exclusion of wrist-spinner, Kuldeep Yadav, in the England series. "The coaches always talk of balance, but keeping a world-class wrist spinner like Kuldeep Yadav out has had disastrous consequences," said a BCCI source.
The discontent is not without precedent. Earlier this year, after the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, the BCCI relieved assistant coach, Abhishek Nayar, of his duties, citing dissatisfaction with his performance. That decision set a clear precedent that underperformance won't be tolerated.
While Gambhir’s role appears secure for now, the pressure is mounting on his support staff to deliver — and quickly. With high-profile tournaments ahead, including the Asia Cup and the World Test Championship cycle, the BCCI is expected to take a hard look at the setup to ensure results match expectations.
There's no clear answer to this discussion. Everyone will be of a different opinion. For me, I am siding with India. A draw was the best that they could achieve in terms of a result. Since that was achieved, there was no telling just how far they wanted to go. They were simply playing by the rules. With what they did, both Jadeja and Sundar deserved to score centuries.