England’s legendary cricketer Geoffrey Boycott has backed Indian batters Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar’s decision to go against Ben Stokes’s offer to settle for a draw on the final day of the Manchester Test.
Writing in his column for The Telegraph, Boycott stated that while England were ineffective in their bowling, they can’t blame India for refusing to accept the draw when two in-form batters were out in the middle.
“What goes around comes around. England were gobby enough when it suited them, so you can’t blame India for wanting to stay on and allow two batsmen who had worked their socks off to reach their hundreds,” Boycott wrote.
Boycott praised both Jadeja and Sundar, calling them “tough” and saying they had earned the right to continue their innings. At the time of the draw offer, Jadeja was batting on 89 and Sundar on 80.
“These India players are tough cookies. They do not take a backward step. There is no way I would have let anyone drag me off on 89 after I had worked hard all day to save the game for my team. Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar deserved their hundreds. They left the ball well, played with the full face of the bat and defended their wickets at all costs. Well done,” he added.
“We Failed to Bowl India Out” – Boycott criticizes England’s attack
Boycott also reflected on England’s inability to dismiss India despite setting up a massive first-innings total of 669. The failure to bowl out India in the fourth innings led to a drawn match, keeping the five-match series alive.
“You learn more from failure than you do from success. And we failed to bowl India out. The draw highlighted the deficiencies in our bowling. If you think about it, when your best bowler in both innings is the England captain, who is a batsman-bowler, something is not right,” he stated.
He praised Stokes’s effort while expressing disappointment with the rest of the bowling unit, barring Jofra Archer. “It was a tremendous effort from Ben Stokes but apart from Jofra Archer at times, the rest were ineffective,” he concluded.
England currently lead the series 2-1. The fifth and final Test begins on Thursday, 31 July, at The Oval.
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