Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar’s unbeaten centuries secured a crucial draw for India against England at Old Trafford, keeping the series alive at 2-1. Their remarkable 203-run partnership followed Shubman Gill’s century and KL Rahul’s resilient 90, nullifying England’s early dominance led by Ben Stokes.
At Lord’s a fortnight ago, when Mohammed Siraj was unfortunately bowled out in the last hour of the Test, Ravindra Jadeja remained unbeaten but was defeated by Ben Stokes and England’s relentlessness. On Sunday at Old Trafford, he looked them in the eye and walked back to the dressing room triumphant, unbeaten, and a proud centurion, having secured a draw to stay alive in the series.
At the other end was Washington Sundar, India’s next-gen spin-bowling allrounder, getting his maiden century as the duo dragged India out of a hole to finish at the score of 425/4.
Jadeja and Washington Sundar, by scoring an unbeaten 107 off 185 and 101 off 206 respectively, batted out 55.2 overs for 203 runs on a pitch with distinct variable bounce and some sharp turn to follow up captain Shubman Gill’s exceptionally gritty 103 and KL Rahul’s fighting 90. In doing so, they extracted every ounce of Stokes and England’s energy to take the series into the last Test at the Oval next week with the scoreline reading 2-1.
tokes, who literally bowled with his bowling arm hanging from his right shoulder to rock India in the first 80 minutes of the day, went up to shake hands with Jadeja and Washington, having made peace with a draw with an hour left to play. Jadeja and Washington turned down the offer to comically complete their centuries with resigned Harry Brook and Joe Root tossing harmless deliveries to be hit to the boundaries.