What a fantastic fightback from India to leave Old Trafford on Sunday with heads held high, after grinding England into the dust. And how shameful to watch Ben Stokes and his team behaving like a bunch of spoilt kindergarten kids deprived of their favourite candy.
Did the hosts seriously expect the two Indian batters, after having fought so hard and so well, to just walk off -- 10 short of hugely deserved Test hundreds -- simply because Stokes and his ‘gang’ wanted to get back to the pavilion and put their feet up?
It makes one wonder what the match referee’s thoughts and official stance were on the whole unsavoury incident that tried to take away the focus from India’s spirited fightback and show of character, which is what Test cricket is all about.
The Fightback For Ages
First, by Shubman Gill. Coming in at 0 for 2, the skipper notched up his fourth hundred in as many matches as captain after three successive failures. Matched stroke for stroke by the classy KL Rahul, who missed his own hundred again. And later, by Ravindra Jadeja, playing yet another outstanding innings, and adding an unbeaten 200-plus runs for the fifth wicket with another centurion, Washington Sundar.
44 years on after the Ashes series of 198, England captain Ben Stokes did an Ian Botham, taking a five-wicket haul and scoring a 140-plus with the bat in the same match, putting him on par with the great man. There is much to admire about Stokes, but the petulant display of bad temper on the final day in Manchester was certainly not one of them, and it showed him in a poor light.
Then, Botham (now Lord Botham) had just lost his England captaincy to Mike Brearley, but scored a massive 149 after a half-century in the first innings, to supplement his fifer.
England subsequetly won that Test match after following on, with the late Bob Willis, “the man with the wonky knees and the no ball problems” -- as he described himself -- running through the Aussies in an inspired spell of eight for 43 in the second innings, to send them packing for 111 in what must surely rank as one of the greatest matches in its glorious 148-year history.
This one could have been another, though!
England Batters Dominance
England piled up a massive 669, thanks to Joe Root’s epic 150 -- a knock which broke multiple batting records -- and Stokes’ 141. Their essays were supplemented by near-century contributions from Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, and Ollie Pope in the top order and a quickfire 47 from Brydon Carse, who seems to have taken a liking for tiring Indian attacks.
India, trailing by 311 in the first innings, were down 0 for 2 after the first five balls of their second innings from Chris Woakes, with first innings half-centurions Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan back in the pavilion. A possible fourth evening finish was staring them in their face.
For Sudharsan, it was the second first-over dismissal in four innings so far in this series.
Gritty Rahul-Gill Partnership
But KL Rahul was determined and dependable as ever. Skipper Shubhman Gill held firm, and 63 overs later, the two were still there at the close of play, having already added 174 runs worth their weight in gold for the third wicket.
This was a showcase of all that is best about Test cricket, the test of character and mental strength, the fight back against impossible odds. The applause from the Old Trafford crowd acknowledged that fact as the Indian pair walked off, having kept India alive to fight another day.
Four days earlier, when the Indian team took the field, there was still no sign of Kuldeep Yadav, and assistant coach Morne Morkel said in an interview that adding Kuldeep to the playing XI “could affect the balance of the side.”
Except that not many believed him. If that logic had prevailed in the 1970s and 80s, the iconic spin quartet of Bishan Singh Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna, BS Chandrasekhar, and Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan would never have played Test cricket, perhaps!
Fast forward to 2025, at Old Trafford, when England batted, the one spinner who looked like taking wickets did not get a bowl till the 68th over of the innings. Washington Sundar had picked up 4 for 22 in the second innings of the previous Test and almost turned the game India’s way.
Baffling to say the least, in a bowling line-up where the two medium pacers coming in as first and second change, struggled to find enough ‘carry’ from the wicket to get the ball through to the wicketkeeper on the full.
Earlier, Ben Stokes had won his fourth consecutive toss of the five-match Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series and put India into bat for a third time under favourable overhead conditions on a pitch that seemed to have plenty of grass.
And yet again, India’s openers batted with a mix of caution and aggression to put on 94 for the first wicket to negate any early advantage that Stokes may have envisaged. The opening partnership between Rahul and Jaiswal has been one of the big takeaways of this tour for India and has got them off to good starts in almost every game.
Sai Sudharsan, replacing Karan Nair, made full use of the opportunity to bat at No. 3 for India and scored 61 very impressive runs; but like Jaiswal, Rahul and even Rishabh Pant who fractured a toe and had to leave the field, could not capitalise and go on to the kind of big score that would have taken the game away from England.
Rishabh Pant's Injury
Pant, who was well set and batting well, attempted an outrageous reverse sweep that only he would have dared to play. He survived the DRS review but had to be literally “carted” off the field in a golf cart ambulance.
In a valiant show of courage, he came out to bat to a standing ovation the next morning, but was severely restricted in his running and movements. By the time he was done, he had progressed to a memorable 54, reminiscent of the time Colin Cowdrey, , emerged from the dressing room as England's last man to save a Test match against the mighty West Indies in 1963.
If that Lord's story is the stuff of Test cricketing legend, six decades later, Pant's Old Trafford show was no less.
Earlier, India had dropped Karun Nair, perhaps ending his chances of a successful comeback. Even though there's no apparent lack of form, he hasn’t scored enough runs in six innings so far on the tour. Against the same opponents, Nair had announced his arrival with an unbeaten triple century in Chennai some eight years ago.
In any recall, the biggest obstacles to success are the inner demons, the memories of erstwhile failures, the anxiety and fear of a recurrence of what has happened before.
Those emotions can so easily shut out positive self-talk and images of previous successes, forcing a player into uncharacteristic errors. Like Karun’s shouldering arms to a straight ball on the stumps from Brydon Carse in the second innings of the previous Test and getting trapped plumb in front.
That is why a comeback, when it happens, is so heartwarming and so deserving of appreciation and applause. The reason why someone like a Mohinder Amarnath, with his multiple comebacks, is such a hero, or a Rishabh Pant, who scaled his way up a different kind of mountain and made such a grand success of it.
Indeed, Farokh Engineer and Clive Lloyd, both in their 80s now, had stands named after them at Old Trafford. Having been such stars for Lancashire in the 1970s and ‘80s, they rang the bell to mark the commencement of this Test match.
Joe Root's Record-Breaking Innings
The fourth India vs England match will also be remembered for Joe Root's 38th Test hundred. He's now the second-highest all-time Test run-scorer behind only legendary Sachin Tendulkar. Achieving this feat, certainly, was another mountain that needed a lot of climbing, and no praise would be too great for the former England captain.
So all in all, a most memorable Test match for all the right reasons... till the wrong reasons took it away and left a bitter aftertaste.
The fifth and final Test match of this wonderful, see-sawing series will start on July 31.
Talk of the Oval always reminds Indian fans of Chandra’s 6 for 38 in 1971, which sealed a famous series victory, and Sunil Gavaskar’s epic 221, which brought them within eight runs of a victory target of 429 in 1979.
Will India level the series there?
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author. The author is a veteran Wing Commander of the Indian Air Force, who has played Ranji Trophy for Services.
