Manchester Test handshake row | 'If I were captain...': Ravichandran Ashwin blasts Ben Stokes, England
The ongoing England-India series is creating headlines both with the quality of competition between the two teams and the box office drama being generated on the field. If the atmosphere had heated up at Lord's on the third day towards the close of play, at Manchester it was towards the final hour of the Test match with a draw all but sealed by India.
Former Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has come out all guns blazing at Ben Stokes and England, terming their behaviour on the final day as 'double standards'. He also defended India's decision to continue batting after the final drinks break on Day 5, stating that Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundary both deserved to get to their respective centuries.
It all started an hour after tea. With the optional last hour left in the day, Stokes went for the customary handshake to signal the draw with an England win improbable from that point. However, at the drinks break that comes before the last hour of play is to commence, Indian captain Shubman Gill had sent a firm message from the dressing room to the on-field pair of Jadeja and Sundar to bat on, and get their respective hundreds.
Not surprisingly, Jadeja and Sundar declined Stokes's handshake, leaving the England captain bemused. Whether he realised it earlier or only at that point, Stokes wasn't happy at the game being dragged on and continued with taunts at India's batting pair during the drinks break. Once he realised that the game will continue, he opted to bowl Harry Brook and Joe Root with extremely attacking fields to ensure that the batters got to their milestones quickly. That is exactly what transpired as Jadeja notched up his second hundred in England and Sundar got to his first-ever Test century, with the teams settling for a draw as soon as the latter reached the landmark.
"Double standards are these. You are frustrated. You can fight with your players, you can punch the wall. Do whatever. But by shaking hands, you are saying 'I am frustrated, you also do not make a 100. You also go crying. How can it be like this? You are saying, 'I am unhappy. You also do not be happy.' He (Jadeja) has worked since morning. He has played Archer. All the bowlers you bowled, he played. Should he leave a century?," fumed Ashwin in his YouTube channel.
Jadeja was the first to get to his milestone and at that moment, there was another hilarious incident with the bowler, Brook, once again looking for a handshake. It looked funny because Sundar was in his 90s at that point and everyone including the English players knew that one more milestone was still pending before the game could be ended as a draw. Therefore, Brook's pretentiously funny reaction to not getting a handshake only made him look sillier. Ashwin was not impressed at all with England's antics and minced no words.
"There were two reasons (behind the handshake by Stokes) -- one, you did not want to tire your bowlers. Fine. Second, you were frustrated and thought, 'If I am not happy, you should not be either.' That is not how cricket works. If I were captain, I would have played all overs."
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