Another week, another Test, another riveting climax.
Resisting England for 143 overs, that too after finding themselves 0-2 in the first over, India’s batters denied Ben Stokes’ side victory on the final day at Old Trafford to salvage a draw.
This is only the second draw since Stokes has taken over as full-time captain, with the previous occurrence coming at the same ground against Australia two years ago.
It was a match which, unsurprisingly, saw records tumble across both sides – the theme for this five-Test series.
From Joe Root to Stokes, and from Shubman Gill to KL Rahul, the statisticians were left purring once more.
England dominated for three and a half days before the tables swiftly turned in the last day and a half, prompting the exaltation of England’s efforts in the first and second innings to devolve to exasperation in the third.
But the biggest talking point of the match came in the fixture’s final moments, and was another divisive milestone in this England team’s story.
Cricket Paper writer Mohan Harihar reflects on the Old Trafford Test and assesses where both teams stand ahead of the series finale at The Oval.
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Root faces Test batting’s final frontier as he sets sights on Tendulkar
On day three, England’s number four created history.
In scoring his 38th Test ton (150), he equalled Sri Lankan stalwart Kumar Sangakkara.
The only men with more Test hundreds are Ricky Ponting (41), Jacques Kallis (45) and Sachin Tendulkar (51).
Root proceeded to leapfrog Rahul Dravid (13,288), Jacques Kallis (13,289) and Ponting (13,378) to finish the match on 13,409 Test runs – 2,512 away from Tendulkar’s aggregate of 15,921.
At the enviable stage of his career where a new record appears to be broken with every swish of his blade, Root looks set to give ‘The Little Master’ a real run for his money.
Still only 34, his appetite for scoring runs remains insatiable and his child-like enthusiasm for the sport’s toughest format continues to inspire.
And with a game suited to all conditions, the hurdles stopping Root from attaining Test batting’s most distinguished prize are few and far between.
Statistically, batting excellence to unequivocally rival the game’s greatest – those of the ilk of Tendulkar, Ponting, Brian Lara and Kallis – has historically evaded England, for one reason or another.
First there was Sir Alastair Cook, who finished with 12,472 runs – the highest ever for an opening batter.
Now in Joe Root, England have a second, and a true middle-order great of their own.
Who knows what lies ahead of Root?
But for now, it is time for the nation, and cricketing world, to proudly celebrate the man who only sits behind arguably the game’s most complete batter.
Perhaps soon, we will see England’s finest achieve the unthinkable, and the undreamable.
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Ben Stokes does it all, again
If Lord’s was a peek into the all-round goods England’s captain had to offer, Old Trafford was the full reveal.
A series that has been a graveyard for fast bowlers has not deterred Stokes from bowling his heart out.
And for all his efforts, he was finally rewarded in bulk – a five-wicket haul for the first time in eight years.
His 5-72 was an exhibition of resilience and well-executed strategy in an innings which saw jaded contributions from his peers.
The skipper’s spell was a reminder of the calibre of bowler he is when his body is attuned to the rhythms of Test cricket and his muscles, ligaments and tendons can be trusted.
Frustratingly for him, his restricted workload in the third innings owing to a right-bicep niggle raised concerns about his welfare, but Stokes was quick to shoo these away.
He said: ‘It’s my bicep tendon. It’s had a lot of workload through it. It’s a lot of time in the middle doing my job. It didn’t get any worse.
‘Hopefully it settles down and will be as good as gold for the last game.’
Most pleasing to see was a return to form with the bat.
His 141 in England’s solitary innings of 669 all out had shades of the Stokes of old, including his customary celebratory salute to his old man.
In achieving Test cricket’s coveted double – a hundred and five-wicket haul in the same match – he became only the fourth Englishman to do so.
Stokes also entered esteemed company – Sir Garfield Sobers and Jacques Kallis – as one of only three all-rounders to score 7000+ runs and 200+ wickets in Test cricket.
Consistency may not be Stokes’ closest ally, but his ability to string together performances on par with the game’s premier all-rounders on his day proves why England continue to lean on him when the heat is on.
READ MORE: Ben Stokes enjoying ‘high quality’ games between England and India despite draw
Gill and Rahul spare India’s blushes, Jadeja and Sundar toy with England
Losing a 14th consecutive coin toss, being inserted to bat and conceding 669 runs may have been enough to suggest to the Indian faithful that their team’s fortunes at Manchester were doomed from the start.
And if that was not the sentiment at the close of the second innings, seeing India 0-2 in the first over of the third innings – 311 runs behind – would have done the trick.
But to use a term coined by the Gen Z subpopulation, into which many of the current Indian squad fall, this side is ‘built different‘.
They are hungry, immovable and unafraid to scrap – qualities a certain Virat Kohli would be proud of.
Captain Gill regaled fans with another sumptuous display of strokeplay, equipped with picture-perfect cover-drives and on-drives.
Despite an already impressive series résumé, his 103 took the cake. It was an innings characterised by maturity and true captain’s grit to right the wrongs of Lord’s.
He now sits on 722 runs for the tour – 52 runs away from the most runs by an Indian player in a Test series, a record currently held by Sunil Gavaskar (774 against the West Indies in 1971).
Gill’s 188-run stand with KL Rahul (90), who once again stood firm at the top, steered India to calmer waters.
‘The partnership Rahul and I had ignited the spark’, India’s captain said.
However, the wickets of both Rahul and Gill saw India’s outlook grow bleak, particularly with an out-of-commission Rishabh Pant.
Thankfully for India, Ravindra Jadeja was ready to take up the fight, picking up from where he left off at Lord’s.
With 454 runs at an average of 113.50 for the tour so far, England again had no answers to shift India’s MVP from the crease.
He fended off short balls, saw out spin and endured the pressure of the final day to banish the demons from Lord’s where India stumbled at the finish line.
Jadeja found support in Washington Sundar.
Earlier in the match Gill’s tactics were questioned when he introduced Sundar, who got 4-22 in the second innings at Lord’s, into the bowling attack 67 overs into England’s innings.
With the ball Sundar immediately had an effect dismissing Ollie Pope and Harry Brook, proving India had missed a trick.
In contrast, he was given a rare promotion to number five with the bat.
His 203-run stand with Jadeja (107*) washed away any hopes England had to pull off a miracle, as he finished on 101*, his first Test century.
Dawson returns to Test cricket, but what do England need from him?
On the back of a fracture to Shoaib Bashir’s left hand, Hampshire’s Liam Dawson was recalled to the Test side after eight long years in the domestic wilderness.
Much was made of his return, not least his seniority over young Bashir who is learning on the job.
His comeback as a whole matched expectations, albeit a little underwhelming with the ball.
At Old Trafford he showed great control to ably support the quicks and demonstrated himself to be a capable Test batter in the lower order, scoring 26.
But with the ball, his match returns of 1-140 from 62 overs lacked the spark Stokes was hoping to see.
Specifically, on a somewhat worn pitch on day five, Dawson was ineffective.
He rarely hit what little rough there was outside the left-hander’s off stump, and was seen regularly embroiled in animated exchanges with captain, Ben Stokes, about bowling plans.
It would be harsh to judge anyone on a single match, that too after such a long time away from the harshest of climates at the top level.
That said, despite Dawson’s thorough understanding of his craft, the end result was not dissimilar to the offerings of Bashir.
Much of Dawson’s future in an England shirt may hinge on what England want from their spinner.
Are England still interested in physical attributes – height in Bashir’s case – and wickettaking potential?
Or will they be content with a spinner who can reliably tie an end up to allow the team’s ever-expanding pace battery to rotate and operate?
If the job description resembles the latter, Dawson fits the mold, who went at an economy rate of just 2.26 for the match.
It is a conversation that will become more pertinent beyond the next Test at The Oval, where conditions are likely to be batter-friendly yet again.
With an Ashes series Down Under on the horizon, England’s management of Dawson and Bashir, and how they view spin as a whole, will be interesting to follow.
The handshake, and matters of cricketing morality
With the final hour commencing – and 138 long overs into the legs of England’s bowlers – Ben Stokes walked over to the umpires and Ravindra Jadeja with the offer of a handshake.
Stokes and this Bazball regime are averse to the draw, and they will be sure to let you know about it.
Once it looked like the most remote of wins was no longer on the cards, England’s captain was ready to let the game rest.
However, India’s main men from the last two sessions had other ideas.
Sitting on 89* off 173 balls and 80* off 188 balls respectively, Jadeja and Washington Sundar had completed their first mission – to secure the draw.
All that was left was to savour the moment, and savour the moment they did.
For all its convolutions and idiosyncrasies, cricket still carries with it a sizable portion of grey area; navigating the terrain as a match peters to a draw is one such grey area.
In this situation, there is no hard and fast rule, and the final decision relies on the mutual understanding of both teams.
At Old Trafford, this was a rare instance where negotiations fell through.
‘If you wanted a hundred you should have batted like it earlier, ‘ said Jofra Archer.
‘We’ll bowl bouncers at you if you want’, added Zak Crawley.
‘How long do you need, an hour? ‘But then it works that you [Jadeja] get to a 100, he [Sundar] gets to 90 and then we have to wait for him’, Ben Duckett chirped.
It was a display of frustration and churlishness from the hosts in a sour final act.
Much of the Test was spent lauding the records of Joe Root and Ben Stokes. Now India’s all-rounders, particularly Sundar who was seeking a maiden Test ton, were in a position to enjoy a moment of their own after avoiding what looked a sure-defeat on day four.
‘Ten more runs wasn’t going to change the fact that you’ve managed to get your team out of a very, very tricky situation’, Stokes explained.
It is not the first time this England side has appeared to adopt the role of self-proclaimed arbiters of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’; the 2023 Ashes series was an exhibition of such narratives.
Much comes down to Stokes’ outlook on draws. While he may not see the value in them, other teams around the world do.
A well-earned draw, such as in this Test, boosts the confidence of players and the team. It teaches you something about yourself. It shifts momentum, and tactically, wears out the opposition in a long series.
Had India compromised a win in the pursuit of individual milestones, a different conversation would be had.
But as it transpired on Sunday evening, Jadeja and Sundar did no wrong by spending an extra five overs putting the cherry on top of their match-saving efforts.
The final showdown awaits at The Oval, but who will the bowlers be?
After four Tests that have all gone down to the final session of the final day, the two teams that have given us so much must front up one more time.
Very few questions linger around the batters on both sides.
England remain settled and staunch in the backing of their batting unit; runs for Crawley and Pope at Old Trafford have done them no harm.
India recalled Sai Sudharsan for the number three slot in place of Karun Nair – Sudharsan’s first-innings 61 should see him keep his position.
Narayan Jagadeesan, the Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper, has been called up to the Test squad as a replacement for Rishabh Pant.
He will be a back-up for Dhruv Jurel, who kept wickets at Lord’s and Old Trafford as a substitute for Pant.
The spotlight will be on the bowling units of both sides; getting 20 wickets remains the ultimate goal at The Oval where the pitch is expected to be another batting delight.
England have played Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse and captain Stokes for four Tests in a row.
Stokes might be tempted to play a tried-and-tested attack one more time in a bid to seal the series.
After all, ‘pain is just an emotion’, as Stokes put it.
The concern lies in the injury histories of Archer – coming back after four years – and Stokes, who again showed signs of discomfort with various ailing body parts.
England will be wise to consider replacing one of Archer or Carse, the latter of whom has been managing a troublesome toe injury, in favour of Gus Atkinson or Jamie Overton.
These options provide much-needed freshness with the ball while preserving batting depth down the order; Atkinson scored his maiden Test hundred last year while Overton scored 97 in his only Test appearance back in 2022.
The hosts will need to lean on Dawson to carry out the donkey work as the quicks take shifts with the ball.
For India, the Jasprit Bumrah selection conundrum still looms large over captain Gill and coach Gambhir.
Despite a rare poor outing at Old Trafford in which his pace was down, he still remains a key asset for the visitors.
As with Woakes and Carse, Mohammad Siraj has played all four Tests but appears in good spirits.
Akash Deep and Arshdeep Singh are expected to be fit for The Oval, one of whom will likely replace Anshul Kamboj, who struggled to stay afloat when thrown in at the deep end on debut.
A big decision will be whether India opt for Shardul Thakur, who scored 41 with the bat in India’s first innings. However, with the ball he contributed an uninspiring 11 overs in all.
Or, will wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav finally get a gig at a ground which has, historically at least, taken spin?
History will dictate very little going into the final Test.
If the pitch remains the same as what we have seen over the course of the series, changes will be minimal.
READ MORE: Jamie Overton recalled for England’s series decider against India at the Oval
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