Geoffrey Boycott, the old England captain, isn’t happy with how the England team, led by Ben Stokes, behaved during the last part of the fourth Test against India at Old Trafford. He didn’t like how England reacted when Indian batsmen Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar turned down Stokes’ offer to end the game early and settle for a draw.
On Day 5, Jadeja and Sundar said no to Stokes’ offer to draw the match before the last hour. Even though the rules let captains agree to a draw if a win looks impossible, the two Indian players, who were at 89 and 80, wanted to keep batting. They had helped India bounce back from a 311-run deficit, and this choice seemed to bother Stokes.
Boycott wrote in his Telegraph column that he supported the Indian players. He said they had every right to keep batting after working so hard to save the Test match. What goes around comes around. England talked big when they could, so they can’t blame India for wanting to continue and let two batsmen, who played very well, reach their hundreds, Boycott wrote. If you talk big, like England does, you need to handle it when others do the same. I could hear them on the stump mics bothering India, so why should India be nice to them and agree to stop when England has had enough?
Boycott also praised the Indian players for being mentally strong and said he would have done the same thing if he were them. These India players are tough. They don’t back down. I wouldn’t have let anyone pull me off the field at 89 after working hard all day to save the game, he wrote. Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar deserved their hundreds. They played well and defended their wickets. Good job.
Boycott also said that today’s cricketers depend too much on sledging and mind games, which is different from when he played. I don’t know what’s up with modern players. You hear them talking too much. It didn’t really happen when I was playing. It will continue at the Oval, and India will go there thinking they won at Old Trafford, he wrote.