MANCHESTER: AS the players walked off the field for lunch on Day Five at Old Trafford, India were in a spot of bother. They had just lost their captain and centurion Shubman Gill, the scoreboard read 223/4 with still 88 runs behind the hosts. Not long before, they had lost already lost the other set batter in KL Rahul and now, the burden was on Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja to put their heads down and dig the team out of the hole.
Jadeja almost did that at Lord's only to watch Mohammed Siraj losing his wicket in an unfortunate manner a few days ago. And that was not the first time he had endured such a heartbreak in England. Five years ago, at the same venue, he and former captain MS Dhoni fell short in the ODI World Cup semifinal against New Zealand despite reaching close from a position of no hope.
This time, however, he was not going to let it repeat. With Washington for company, he dug deep to frustrate England's bowling attack. Be it their pace spearhead Jofra Archer or their inspiring captain Ben Stokes, no one can breach the duo's defence. They gave up all their aggressive instincts and instead focused on playing the ball on its merit. The defensive approach adopted by the duo meant India scored 55 runs in 21 overs between lunch and drinks at 2.61 runs per over.
Once they negotiated the testing period, the Indian batters broke free a few overs before the tea and targetted Stokes, whose ruthless spell in the morning raised hope of his team's win in the match. Before that over, third of Stokes' second spell and 11th overall, India were trailing by 13 runs. Washington slammed the England captain's first two balls for a six and a four before Jadeja joined the party by hitting a four to complete his fifty. By the time the tea was called, India have reached 322/4 with Washington and Jadeja unbeaten on 57 and 53 runs, respectively.
Stokes tried unconventional fielding positions, packing the batters' leg side in his desperate attempt for wickets. At one stage when spinner Liam Dawson was bowling, he had fielders at short mid wicket, short square leg, silly mid on, wide leg slip as well as silly point. Wicketkeeper Jamie Smith also stood up to Chris Woakes for a brief period but it all went in vain.
Such was the toil that Stokes was more than happy to shake hands before the final hour. However, Jadeja was unbeaten on 89 and Washington playing on 80 and they were not ready to walk off without getting their centuries.
Seemingly unhappy with the move, Stokes employed part-timer Harry Brook from one end, who at times looked like he was just rolling his arm over in formality. Both Indian batters did not mind that one bit as Jadeja completed his hundred, first and soon Washington followed. Soon after the Tamil Nadu all-rounder got to his maiden Test hundred, hands were shaken for one last time as the Indian duo walked off the field head held high.
Earlier, Stokes gave England a bright start by scalping the wicket of Rahul. The gritty pacer did all these while visibly in pain as he was seen holding his right hip and rubbing his right shoulder frequently. Braving injury, Stokes bowled eight overs on a trot claiming a wicket and giving away just 12 runs.
Injured Rishabh Pant was supposed to be the next batter in but it was Washington Sundar, who was sent up the order. After the wicket, Stokes was all pumped in and bowled a rising delivery in his next over that angled in and hit top of Gill's right thumb before rebounding to his helmet. Stokes was continuously angling in the bowl for the right-hand batter from the rough patches, which have been created over the past four days. Gill and Washington made sure India went into drinks without any further hiccups. They were 193/3 in 76 overs at drinks, scoring 19 runs from the first 13 overs of the day.
England took the new ball after 80 overs with Chris Woakes replacing Stokes. Jofra Archer was brought in from the other end in place of Dawson. The India captain completed his century with a single of Woakes in the 83rd over. It was his fourth century of the series and ninth overall. He broke Virat Kohli's record of three away centuries as a captain to become the first India skipper to slam four centuries in a Test series. He also equalled Sunil Gavaskar and Don Bradman's record of hitting four centuries in a Test series as a captain.
Gill, however, lost focus a few minutes before the lunch and chased an away going delivery from Archer only to get an edge which was pocketed by Smith. Ravindra Jadeja, the new batter, tried to smash a short pitched delivery the very next ball but Joe Root positioned at slip cordon despite a jump could not latch on to it. Gill's wicket also meant England went into lunch needing only six wickets for an innings win. India, meanwhile, were still trailing by 88 runs.
But the hosts failed to claim any more wicket thereafter as Jadeja and Washington added an unbeaten 223 runs for the fifth wicket to fetch an improbable draw for the team and keep them alive in the series.