Ben Stokes defends England’s stance in no-handshake drama: ‘Never going to risk by bowlers…’

6 months ago 10
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England skipper Ben Stokes has shared his thoughts on the final over of play in Manchester that saw tensions between England and India rising once again. Notably, the English skipper had offered to draw the Test match as Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar looked resolute on the crease but the Indian batters refused knowing that they were very close to a special century. The English players, however, did not take that reaction well as comments started following the Indian batters about their intent or the importance of the hundred in a bid to force a draw earlier in the match.

Both Jadeja and Sundar eventually got to their hundreds in the next few overs and the match eventually ended with handshake but the behaviour by English players left a sour taste in the mouth for Indian fans who saw this draw as more or a victory given where England were in the game.

Ben Stokes on Manchester no-handshake drama:

Speaking at the post-match presentaion, Stokes was asked about the controversy that followed during the last hour of the play to which the English captain responded saying, "I think we we took the game as far as we as we could with our frontline bowlers to. We took it as far as we could to think like we've got a um real chance of still winning this game."

“But as soon as it got to that point where it was the draw is inevitable… I was never going to risk any of my frontline bowlers with the short turn around that we have and the workload that we've got through this week and throughout the series as well.” he added

"Um, so yeah, as soon as you know the 15 overs or last hour was there, it there was always going to be a shake hands" Stokes further stated.

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