England captain Ben Stokes says that the efforts of India batters Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar would have been hailed as equally good even if there wasn’t a hundred against their respective names. Stokes was responding to a query on the drama that unfolded on the final day of the 4th Test between India and England when he got into an animated conversation with Jadeja and Sundar after his offer for a draw was rejected.

With an hour to play and India at 386/4 in 138 overs, Stokes seemed to have accepted the fate of the contest and offered a handshake to the Indian batters – a symbolic gesture to confirm that both parties have agreed to a draw. Jadeja,a who was unbeaten on 89 and Sundar, batting on 80*, wanted to continue leaving Stokes unimpressed.

The two eventually completed their respective century before accepting a draw.

“The knock that those two played was very, very good," Stokes said. “The situation that India found themselves in there, with us opening the game slightly, that partnership was massive. You hold your hands up, they played incredibly, incredibly well."

“And I don’t think there would’ve been too much more satisfaction from walking off a hundred not out, getting your team out of a tricky situation, than walking off at 80, 90 not out. That’s what you’ve done for your team. You know, the 10 more runs or whatever it was ain’t gonna change the fact that you’ve managed to get your team out of a very, very, very tricky situation and almost saved your team from a series defeat before the last game," he added.

Stokes said he didn’t want to risk any of his frontline bowling, given there was nothing at stake after India had fought back to ensure the contest would only end in a draw.

“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 only one result left on the table and 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," Stokes said.
‘Don’t Do Anything Stupid’

Stokes handed the ball to part-timers Harry Brook and Joe Root while instructing the former not to do anything ‘stupid’.

“The only other person who has any bowling workload in them is Harry Brook. But I did have to say to him, Please don’t do anything stupid. We’ve been out in the field for 200-and-whatever overs, we’ve got a quick turnaround, so just do what needs to be done. I said don’t do anything daft: don’t pull a side, don’t pull a hamstring. We knew what was going on there," he said.