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“Self-righteous” Stokes slammed over handshake antics
Lachlan Geleit • July 28th, 2025 3:44 pm
The spotlight of the cricket world is on Ben Stokes after the England captain attempted to end the fourth Test against India early.
Stokes offered to shake hands with Ravindra Jadeja with 15 overs remaining on Day 5 in Manchester while India was 4/386 in their second innings, with the India all-rounder instead opting to bat on.
While neither team had any hope of winning the game at that stage, given England only batted once for 669, Washington Sundar was on 80 not out at the time, and Jadeja himself was undefeated on 89.
Given how close the pair were to reaching centuries, veteran cricket journalist Robert Craddock felt it was entirely fair from India to keep batting, especially with the fifth and final Test beginning at The Oval on Thursday (AEST).
“Jee, I thought it was poor,” Craddock told SEN Mornings.
“I mean, like, Washington Sundar… It's not as if he was on 60 not out, they were on 85 and 90, and they got their centuries in 15 minutes.
“And guess what? It’s a fair tactic with the match coming to a close when you've got another Test starting in three days' time and you've got a team who's been in the field all day.
“It makes good sense. Keep them out there. They were most entitled to stay and play for their century.”
Once the handshake was denied, the England side were clearly annoyed, being heard on stump microphones swearing at batters, while the centuries weren’t clapped by the opposition once both reached the milestone.
“When Ben Stokes provocatively came and offered his hand as if to say, ‘Yeah, we'll call that Stumps’, he would have known that they would have played on, surely,” Craddock said.
“What a morale lifter for Sundar and Jadeja to get unconquered centuries.
“Then, of course, he brought Harry Brook on, which made a mockery of the game. One ball he bowled was 59 km/h.
“He was bowling low full tosses, and he basically said, ‘Take your century, boys, it doesn't mean anything, I'm bowling like a joke’.
“Here's England, all self-righteous, for most of the last couple of years being rank smart aleck.
“It was really poor form, I thought.”
England lead the five-Test series 2-1. A win would draw the series for India, but England will retain the Anderson-Tendulkar trophy anyway as current holders.
