Indian captain Shubman Gill was pleased with the batting effort after they were able to draw the fourth Test match against England at Old Trafford. The visitors were left reeling at 0-2 before the lunch break on the fourth day after England took a massive lead of 311 runs.
Shubman Gill and KL Rahul added 174 runs on the penultimate day and remained unbeaten on 78 and 87 runs respectively. Rahul was dismissed on 90 on the final day’s play whereas Gill scored 103 runs, his fourth century of the series.
After both of them were dismissed on the fifth day before the lunch break, Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja showed all the resistance with the bat. Sundar and Jadeja scored 101 and 107 runs respectively to help India draw the fourth Test and keep themselves alive in the series. The left-handers added a fine alliance of 203 runs to keep England bowlers at bay.
Shubman Gill said in the post-match presentation, “Extremely pleased with the batting effort. Past couple of days we were put under tremendous pressure. It’s all about taking the wicket out of the equation. Day 5 wicket, something is happening, every ball is kind of an event. Wanted to take it ball by ball and take the game as deep as possible, which is what we spoke about.”
There was a controversial end to the Test match as England captain Ben Stokes wanted to shake hands for a draw, but Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar both wanted to reach their respective centuries after all the toil they had done in the middle.
Speaking on the decision, Gill said, “We thought they (Jadeja and Sundar) batted brilliantly, they were in their 90s, we thought they deserved a century there.”
Gill admitted that there have been a lot of learnings in the four Test matches against England.
Gill concluded, “Every match going till the last session on the last day. So many learnings. Each Test match teaches you something different. It has taught us a lot as a group. Hopefully, we can win the next match and draw the series.”
The fifth and final Test match between England and India will be played at the Kennington Oval, London, from 31st July onwards.
