Credit: ICC
During the fourth Test match of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025 played at Old Trafford, an incident happened which has become a talking point in the cricketing circles. When both Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar were batting in their 80s during the second innings, England skipper Ben Stokes went to the former and extended his hand to end the game in a draw but India veteran denied the offer from the 34-year-old. Stokes also tried to coax Jadeja by asking if he really wanted to score a century against the likes of Harry Brook and Ben Duckett.
However, Jadeja continued with his decision and also completed his century, Sundar also hammered his maiden Test ton. Jadeja’s decision rankled Stokes as he threw the ball towards Harry Brook with frustration. Following this incident, Stokes is getting criticised for his attitude but South Africa legend Dale Steyn has supported England captain and accused both India players of pursuing free milestones.
The Protea legend believes India batters weren't playing for their centuries but for a draw and their objective was achieved. In his lengthy post on X, Steyn wrote, “This onion has many layers to it, and each one will make someone cry. The only issue I see here is the one thing people aren’t realizing, the batters weren’t playing for 100s, they were batting for a DRAW. That was the goal. Draw the game. Once that was accomplished, and a result was out of the question a handshake was offered, that’s the gentlemanly thing to do right? It’s not then the time to realize they safe and now say no we’d prefer some free milestones… although within the rules, just seems a little, well, odd. That said, they did bat well, and maybe with the last hour approaching they should have been more aggressive in reaching those milestones, at least then, we could all agree, no team tried to out do the other in this weird situation.”
India expected to show fight in the final Test at The Oval
Team India will be expected to display their belligerent side in the final game to be held at The Oval. Shubman Gill and his men are trailing by a 1-2 margin in the series and they will be required to win the upcoming contest to conclude their series in a stalemate.
Both India and England met each other at The Oval in 2021 and the hosts were handed a 157-run defeat. Rohit Sharma shone with his bat in the second innings and went on to score 127 runs.
