India vs England: India’s memorable draw in Manchester has filled the whole nation with pride. The fightback from a young Indian team after losing two wickets for no runs feels no less than a victory.

“Satisfied? I am proud. I am enormously proud of this team for what they have done. I mean, just four wickets [fell]. Whatever the pitch might have been - good pitch, flat pitch - whatever it is, they stuck around there under pressure,” Gavaskar said on Sony Sports Network.

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English players, led by their skipper Ben Stokes, created an unnecessary controversy at the start of the mandatory overs on the final day. Stokes got miffed when Team India turned down his initial offer to call it a draw as the two batters were a few hits away from their respective centuries.

Reacting to the animated argument, Sunil Gavaskar came hard at Stokes and his players, exposing their fake “bravado,” taking a dig at the way England talk about chasing large totals but fall short when put to the test.

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“The question can be asked: Did England bat too long before they declared? When India gave England 600-plus runs to chase at Birmingham, some of the England players who came out for the press conference said 'India were scared, and that's why they gave us 600 runs’,” Gavaskar said.

He reminded viewers of England’s tall claims during the 2024 tour of India, where England’s players had said they would chase down any target that India throw at them, even if it’s 600. However, earlier in this series, when India set them a target of over 600, they crumbled, losing the second Test in Birmingham by 336 runs.

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“But I also remember reading somewhere earlier on when England were in India 'Give us 600 runs. We will chase anything.' That's what India did, but you ended up 336 runs short. So that is just bravado, a little bit of loud talk,” he recalled.

Reacting to England players' creating unnecessary fuss, Gavaskar pointed fingers at Ben Stokes’ captaincy, asking why he didn’t declare sooner to give his bowlers more time to bowl India out in the second innings.

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“Why did you take a lead of 311? Why were you not happy with a lead of 240? Or 250? After you [Stokes] got his hundred, why did you not declare and give your bowlers a little extra hour to try and get other wickets?” he said, suggesting that England missed a trick by not being more aggressive with their declaration.

Gavaskar’s comments underscored not just his pride in India’s resilient performance but also highlighted the mismatch between England's words and actions, particularly when put under pressure in a high-stakes Test match.