Jadeja or Gambhir? Who decided not to shake hands with Ben Stokes? Shubman Gill ends the suspense

A high-octane drama unfolded in Manchester during the waning hours of Day 5 as England captain Ben Stokes offered to end the match in a draw, only to be met with resistance from Indian batters Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, who were inching toward personal milestones. With Jadeja on 89 and Sundar on 80, the duo refused to leave the field without completing their well-deserved centuries, batting on for a few more overs despite England’s attempts to wrap up the game.

Stokes and his teammates tried various tactics to get the batters to agree to a draw, but to no avail. What followed was part-timer Harry Brook lobbing friendly deliveries to Jadeja, who eventually brought up his century. Sundar soon followed, reaching his maiden Test hundred with a single off Brook.

Amid the drama, there was a moment when Stokes, Ben Duckett, and Zak Crawley were seen trying to persuade Jadeja to accept the draw. The all-rounder, however, told them the decision wasn’t in his hands and had been made by the Indian coach (Gautam Gambhir) and captain (Gill). That, it turns out, was a clever ruse — as Shubman Gill later revealed, the decision to reject the handshake was made solely by the two batters at the crease, determined to reach their personal milestones.

In a later interation with BBC Sport, Gill reiterated that his batters deserved to get to their centuries after doing the hard grind in Manchester.

He said, “I think both the batsman, they batted brilliantly, and both were on nineties, and a test century is a test century at the end of the day, and we thought they both deserved a century, and it was washington's first ever test century. To be able to get us from a situation where we were under pressure to be able to get a test century is a big thing and we thought they both deserved it.”

Notably, Sundar and Jadeja had stitched together an over 200-run partnership for the sixth wicket and batted for over two sessions to make sure there was only one result left in the match. The partnership was even more important given that India did not have much batting left after them, with Rishabh Pant injured and unlikely to be very effective, while Shardul Thakur was the last recognised batter in the side.

When the two batters came to the crease, things weren't looking good for India. The visitors had already lost the wickets of Shubman Gill and KL Rahul in the first session of play, and it seemed like only a matter of time before England would bowl out the young side and take an unassailable lead in the series.

With the draw, however, the series remains open and the result will now be decided in the fifth Test match at The Oval.