Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja batted out more than two sessions to bring back India from the brink of a decisive defeat and pull off a draw for the ages at Old Trafford in Manchester on Sunday, keeping the intensely fought series well and truly alive heading into the finale at The Oval.
Having conceded a 311-run lead and lost their openers for duck in the second innings, India displayed a steely resolve to get a favourable result largely due to the efforts of captain Shubman Gill (103 off 238), K L Rahul (90 off 230), Jadeja (107 not out off 185) and Washington (101 not out off 206).
With inspirational England skipper Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer removing a well set Gill and Rahul in the morning, England sensed a series sealing victory but Jadeja and Washington hung in there before milking the bowlers towards the end of the day.
Just before the start of last hour of play, Ben Stokes expressed his desire to end the game but India decided to carry on with Washington and Jadeja closing in on deserving hundreds. Stokes was clearly not amused.
Harry Brook started to offer freebies to Jadeja and Washington as a sign of disapproval for India’s decision to carry on playing. Players finally shook hands after the milestones of Jadeja and Washington were achieved with the latter scoring his maiden Test hundred.
The day five track did not have many demons with prominent movement and a bit of variable bounce was visible in the morning session when Gill and Rahul got out after a 188-run stand.
Considering the match situation, the dogged resistance from the two India left-handers in the second and final session was reminiscent of R Ashwin and Hamuna Vihari’s match saving stand in the Sydney Test of 2021.
Nursing a broken foot, Rishabh Pant was available to bat in the second innings but he did not need to come to the middle and risk aggravation of his injury.
Strikingly, it was England’s only second draw in the 40 Tests played in the Bazball era with the last one coming also at Old Trafford during the 2023 Ashes (weather was the main factor behind the draw).
The surface here has been on the drier side through the domestic season with four games producing as many draws.
With both sides struggling to keep their fast bowlers fit in a long and gruelling series, it would be interesting how many of the first choice pacers take part in the fifth Test beginning in London from July 31.
At tea, India were 322 for four after collecting 99 runs from a wicketless afternoon session.
Stokes, who looked lethal in his eight over spell in the morning, could not keep up the intensity in the three overs he bowled in the second session.
In a 15-run over from Stokes, Washington pulled the England captain for a six and four to bring up his fifty before Jadeja employed the cut to complete his fifth half-century in six innings.
What made England’s life difficult is that left-arm spinner Liam Dawson was not able to challenge the Indian left-handers enough while Archer too get could not get a breakthrough post lunch. Dawson failed to use the rough created outside the left-hander's off-stump.
In the morning session, Gill completed a gutsy hundred after Stokes battled through pain to dismiss a well set K L Rahul, leaving India at 223 for four at lunch.
Resuming the day at 174 for two with a deficit of 137, India remained on course to draw the game courtesy a fighting effort from Gill, who brought up his fourth century of the series. The Indian captain fell at the stroke of lunch with the visitors still trailing England by 88 runs.
Considering India’s backs against the walls and series on the line, this could be Gill’s most defining century if India managed to save the match and keep the series alive.
Expecting the ball to come back in, Gill felt for the one from Jofra Archer that shaped away, getting a faint outside edge.
The 188-run marathon stand between Gill and Rahul (90 off 230) was finally broken when the latter was trapped in front by Stokes with a ball that kept a tad low from length.
Soon after, Stokes got one jump to sharply from a similar length that foxed Rahul, leaving the Indian skipper in a lot of pain.
The rising ball first crashed into Gill’s right thumb before taking a piece of his helmet.
It was remarkable that Stokes, who was not fit enough to bowl on day four, managed an eight-over spell on day five despite discomfort in his right shoulder and hamstring. Like at Lord’s, he did not care much about his injury prone body to help the team’s cause.
The new ball was taken after the 80th over and resulted in the wicket of Gill. Jadeja too would have be gone first ball but Joe Root could not hold on to a tough chance at first slip off Archer.
Brief scores: India: 358 and 425/4 in 143 overs (KL Rahul 90, Shubman Gill 103, Ravindra Jadeja 107, Washington Sundar 101; Chris Woakes 2/67)
England 1st innings: 669 all out in 157.1 overs (Joe Root 150, Ben Stokes 141, Ben Duckett 94, Zak Crawley 84; Ravindra Jadeja 4/143).
