ENG vs IND 2025: Stokes-Jadeja handshake sparks debate — Is ‘Spirit of Cricket’ still relevant or just a flawed notion?
What’s the definition of the spirit of cricket? Even Google explains it in multiple ways, in a confused manner. After all, it’s a flawed notion. Players, in different situations, use the term to their advantage. What they forget is that they perhaps had been on the other side in the past. Simply, the spirit of cricket is about showing respect for opponents, teammates, and umpires, thereby keeping the core values of the game intact.
In the last couple of days, there have been more discussions on this ‘spirit of the cricket’ term than India’s unbelievable performance to draw the fourth Test against England. At Old Trafford, both Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja batted two sessions to save a Test and keep the series alive.
England’s last 20-minute drama in Manchester
When two strong sides meet each other in challenging conditions, it doesn’t need an extra ingredient to spice up the series. However, there have been altercations between players of both camps at various moments over the last six weeks.
From Shubman Gill going after Zak Crawley to Mohammed Siraj’s shoulder charge to Ben Duckett at Lord’s, the heat was already up. But Ben Stokes decided to write another chapter.
It was the penultimate ball before the final hour started in Manchester. Sundar creamed a drive through covers, but the ball hit Duckett, fielding at short leg, in the arms. Stokes had enough of watching his players dead on their feet. After a small discussion with the umpires, he went to Jadeja and Sundar to shake hands. But once the two batters refused, the England captain failed to accept it.
That could be due to several reasons- Two all-rounders batted India to the draw, or the home side picked up just two wickets in the last five sessions. Suddenly, the Durham all-rounder, joined by some of his team-mates, went after the batters.
There is certainly no rule of shaking hands to conclude a Test in a draw. It’s the mutual agreement of both parties accepting that no result would be possible. And both visiting batters, after battling for nearly five hours, wanted to celebrate their well-earned milestone. There was nothing wrong with that.
Just like England had the right to offer the draw, India were well within their rights to keep batting for the entire last hour. But the issue was that Stokes didn’t even ask those two batters in the middle. He literally walked up to them and stretched his hands. As if, they would surely approve.
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When you have batted 50 overs to save a test match, you are perfectly entitled to seek a cherished landmark. And it is good to see that everyone is in the batters' camp on this one. I have no issue with Stokes wanting to go off but I hope young Harry Brook, when he has a quiet…
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) July 27, 2025
Different perspectives on the handshake saga
Later coming into the press conference, Ben Stokes stated that he would not ‘think there would’ve been too much more satisfaction from walking off a hundred not out, getting your team out of a tricky situation, than walking off at 80, 90 not out.’
However, it’s the same side that were nervous when Joe Root finished Lord’s opening day on 99*. Won’t they celebrate the personal milestone if Root surpasses Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time Test runs?
Nasser Hussain, the former England captain, however, didn’t have any problem with India’s stances. On Sky Sports, the veteran said ‘England had tired bowlers, tired legs, and tired bodies. They wanted to get off. But two lads worked hard to get into the 80s. In the 90s, they wanted Test match centuries. Stokes didn’t have to bowl Brook, and it looked a bit silly in the end.’
Ravichandran Ashwin, the former India all-rounder, tore apart the home side’s behaviour, addressing it as ‘double standard.’ On his YouTube channel, he expressed ‘they played your bowlers all day, batted you out, and suddenly, when they’re nearing hundreds, you want to walk off? Why should they? A century is earned, not gifted.’
However, Kevin Pietersen saw a different picture of the incident. On X, the South Africa-born claimed ‘2 days fielding and no result on the cards – you WANT to get off the field! You cannot have a pop at Ben Stokes for his frustration. Very easy to have a pop at him when you’re sitting in your lounge watching. You’re NOT in the battle.’
Even former Protea pacer, Dawho a few days ago wanted Wiaan Mulder to overtake Brian Lara’s 400-run record, went against India. He responded with ‘The only issue I see here is the one thing people aren’t realizing, the batters weren’t playing for 100s, they were batting for a DRAW. That was the goal. Draw the game. Once that was accomplished, and a result was out of the question, a handshake was offered, that’s the gentlemanly thing to do, right?’
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2 days fielding and no result on the cards – you WANT to get off the field!
— Kevin Pietersen🦏 (@KP24) July 28, 2025
You cannot have a pop at Ben Stokes for his frustration.
Very easy to have a pop at him when you’re sitting in your lounge watching.
You’re NOT in the battle. Leave the men in the ring to be emotional.
Cricket to run by the rules, not by Ben Stokes’ plans
What happened in Manchester is similar to the Bengaluru Test in 1983/84 against Pakistan. With no result possible, Sunil Gavaskar decided to do some batting practice. He raced away to 84 after Tea when the opponent captain, Zaheer Abbas, walked off the field with his side. Gavaskar and Anshuman Gaekwad waited 23 minutes in the middle along with the umpire.
The 76-year-old later hinted at a walkover from the Green Brigade to get rewarded with the victory. When Pakistan returned, Gavaskar completed his 28th Test century in the final over of the clash.
It was nearly the same situation at Old Trafford for India. They could have batted for another five overs and thrown the opponents a challenging target to chase. Stokes would not have anything to do with the laws. He couldn’t even refuse, given that it would have resulted in the tourists’ victory.
Now this stance should bring the entire India team together. Due to their dominance with the bat, the series is still alive going into the fifth Kennington Oval Test. They have a golden chance to walk off with the 2-2 drawn margin. Whatever happens, this team will purely play by the rules, not by what Ben Stokes decides at certain moments.
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