'If you really wanted to score a century…': What Ben Stokes told Ravindra Jadeja as England 'make a mockery of the game'

Hindustan Times

21 hours ago

In an extremely poor show of sportsmanship, a frustrated England offered to call off the Manchester Test with more than an hour left for the match to finish. With Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar spoiling England's plans of finishing India off and taking an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series, Stokes and his team stooped to a new low. They were left disgruntled when India refused to take the draw and wanted to carry on with the match. Ben Stokes, left, speaks with India's Ravindra Jadeja, centre, as Brydon Carse looks on(AFP)
It was a shame that a competitive 4th Test of the series for the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy had to finish on a sour note. Both teams agreed to a draw after Jadeja and Sundar smashed centuries, but the damage was already done. What made things even more unsportsmanlike was that Stokes ensured his part-time bowlers Joe Root and Harry Brook sent down dollies to gift runs to Jadeja and Sundar to complete their respective milestones. They didn't applaud, and if anything, as Sanjay Manjrekar said on commentary, 'England were grumpy'. In the end, it was nothing more than frustration by a team that is used to dominating.
The drama began when Stokes approached Jadeja to shake hands, hoping that his Indian all-rounder compatriot would agree. That didn't happen, and it ticked off Stokes. When the umpires were not in favour of it either, Stokes was unimpressed and engaged in a verbal exchange with Jadeja. It was basically two men against an entire team as the entire England team started firing verbal shots at Sundar and Jadeja.
There was more drama
Jadeja remained unperturbed as the drama unfolded. Even Shubman Gill was disgusted as he watched from the change room. When the broadcast replayed the footage, it became clearer what Stokes told Jadeja: "You want to score a Test century against Harry Brook?" When Jadeja replied, " It's not in my hands," Zak Crawley interfered, saying, "Then shake hands. It's embarrassing."
The stump mic also captured Stokes telling Jadeja, "If you wanted to score a century, you should have batted like you wanted to get it."
Manjrekar aptly summed up England's cheap tactics. "Now they are just making a mockery of the game."
Truly disgusting.