Old Trafford Test: Does Ben Stokes deserve the flak for his abrupt draw offer?

It’s a pity that the spurned offer of a draw from England captain Ben Stokes left a bitter aftertaste in the wake of the Indian batters’ epic effort at the Old Trafford. It was an extraordinary display of resistance, now rare in the classical format — and this one spanning over five sessions, 143 overs and, of course, three centuries.

The buzz is getting louder about the hosts’ lack of sportsmanship; but for me, it was about Stokes taking the rules of the game for granted and making a mockery of them by summoning Harry Brook to ‘help’ the Indian pair reach their landmarks. At the juncture that Stokes offered the handshake, there were still 15 of the mandatory overs to go and India were effectively 5 wickets down — what with Rishabh Pant being protected from walking into the middle. A cluster of wickets there could have given the England camp a boost ahead of the Oval Test.

What one got was instead was a condescending act from Stokes, who ironically, put in a champion effort in this match to win his 12^th Man of the Match award. If Stokes and England were well within their rights to offer the handshake for a draw with Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar batting on 89 and 80, respectively, so was Shubman Gill to reject the offer and have his two batters complete their date with their centuries.

No wonder Stokes was asked at the press conference later whether 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. The England skipper, in the eye of the storm, said he couldn’t see how the extra 10 runs made any difference to what Washington and Jadeja had already done — but easier said than done, perhaps?

There are a number of examples even during Stokes’ own reign since 2022 — when England waited for a Joe Root century to set New Zealand a target of 583, or the declaration with a 352-run lead against Ireland in 2023 soon after Ollie Pope’s double-century, say. Then, in the ongoing series, one remembers the England camp getting restive when Root had to go to the stumps unbeaten on 99.

Let’s face it — mandatory overs in Tests have seen centuries being completed in match situations that were of far greater academic interest than practical impact; but one cannot recall captains trying to claim a moral high ground for their decisions in such cases.

Here were two batters who had battled enormous pressure since the fall of the overnight pair of Gill and K.L. Rahul just before lunch, on a fifth-day wicket that had started showing its quirks, and in the process tiring and frustrating the England team.

Did they not deserve a sporting respect for that, at the least?

It couldn’t have been India’s problem that Stokes’ bowlers were tiring and he himself was not really in a position to bowl. In professional sports today, there are no quarters given — and none asked for. It was the same Stokes who was firing away fuller deliveries aimed at Rishabh Pant’s injured right foot in the first innings — but that’s par for the course, much like a fast bowler hurling short-pitched deliveries at tailenders.

Full marks to Jadeja, then, for playing the senior pro and deciding to carry on — history will remember the twin centuries by the pair and their unbeaten 203-run partnership, saving a game everyone had given up on.

Looking ahead, India cannot win the series any more; but then, they live to fight another day in the Oval Test starting in three days’ time, with an eye to squaring the series — a scenario that looked improbable when they were reduced to nought for 2 on Saturday afternoon!