
Gargi Raut at Old Trafford
A moral compass is a compass we can’t quite hold yet, everyone has one. It differs from person to person and it leads different people in different directions. For example, for Ben Stokes, his moral compass guides him to mock two batters who have outperformed his bowlers. While, on the other hand, Shubman Gill’s moral compass guides him to allow his batters, the same batters who saved the game from the jaws of defeat, enough time to complete their centuries.
When the English captain thought he had enough, he went up to Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar with his arm extended, expecting him to shake hands and seal the draw. However, a handshake takes two, and India weren’t quite done yet; understandably so. Sundar was on 80, Jadeja, who had once again led a gritty fightback, stood just five runs short of a well-earned century.
Apart from a couple of wins, Stokes has also earned something for himself, and that is the admiration of fans. After he left everything there is to leave on the field. A recently operated hamstring, excruciating shoulder pain, or the frustration of not having the upper hand in the game, none of these things has ever stopped Stokes from giving it his all. Be it checking on Rishabh Pant after the fourth Test or embracing Mohammed Siraj as he fell to misfortune, there have been numerous moments where Stokes has won the hearts of fans. But the last 30 minutes of play at Old Trafford frayed the thread of respect that Stokes had earned from many fans.
On Day 4 of the Test, when Chris Woakes unwound the Indian top order in consecutive deliveries, sending Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudarshan walking back to the pavilion, all hopes were lost for India. KL Rahul, one of the most consistent batters in the series, stood at the non-striker’s end, with his head hung low, tapping the mercurial Old Trafford pitch.
In walked the Indian captain Gill; a player who has successfully managed to separate the pressures of captaincy from the art of batting. While as a captain, Gill is still raw, he shut his critics up by racking up 722 runs in the four Test matches in the series so far. Rahul and Gill went strong for two sessions without a wicket on Day 4.
Day 5 started anew with promise for the English bowlers—overcast conditions and 17 overs to go for the second new ball. While KL fell in the 70th over, Gill continued the resistance with Sundar, who was sent up the order, for another 17.2 overs, but ultimately lost his wicket at the stroke of lunch. Many were prepared for an early end to the day, many put their bets on a finish before tea, but Sundar and Jadeja had different plans, one that England would not fancy.
But this match, like many other great ones, will be remembered for the strength of human spirit: Rishabh Pant hobbling down the steps of the Old Trafford dressing room, walking in to bat with a broken foot, Gill and Rahul going two sessions without a wicket, Sundar and Jadeja resisting the second new ball and taking India to a draw. But this match will also be remembered for what it revealed about the ever-elusive “spirit of cricket”.
So, it felt strange when Stokes and his teammates began sledging Sundar and Jadeja in the final half hour “You really want to score a century against Harry Brook and Ben Duckett?” they jeered. “Is this how you want to do it?” Implying that India were being selfish or unsporting for continuing to bat or for chasing personal milestones in a game that England had mentally checked out of.
Test hundreds are not easy to come by and Jadeja and Sundar had earned the right to chase theirs. They had stood firm through England’s full-strength pace attack for most of the day. They hadn’t padded their stats off part-timers, they had survived Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse and the skipper himself. If Stokes truly wanted the game to end, he could have thrown the ball to his main bowlers and tried to earn the handshake the hard way: With a wicket.
Instead, he seemed frustrated that the batters hadn’t drawn the match simply because England were tired. The idea that continuing to bat, within the laws, within the rhythm of the game, could be seen as some kind of moral offence says more about England’s mindset than India’s intent.
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