Stokes didn’t need to bowl Brook and look silly in the end: Nasser Hussain

Manchester: Former England captain Nasser Hussain termed Ben Stokes’ decision to bring Harry Brook into the attack after India declined his offer to end the fourth Test early as “silly”, stating that Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar fully deserved their centuries.

Jadeja and Washington were batting on 89 and 80 respectively before the start of the last hour of play when England skipper Ben Stokes, aware that a result was out of reach, offered to shake hands.

However, with milestones around the corner, the Indian batters refused, which didn’t amuse Stokes, who then introduced Brook into the attack to bowl some deliberate full-tosses, allowing both to complete their well-deserved tons.

“I didn’t have a problem with it. England seemed to have a problem with it. They were a bit tired, tired bowlers so they wanted to get off but two lads worked hard to get to 80s and 90s and they wanted to get Test match hundreds,” Hussain said on ‘Sky Sports’.

“Stokes didn’t have to bowl Brook and look silly at the end. We make far too much of these things. They played well and all credit to India,” Hussain said.

When Cheteshwar Pujara asked the same question to Washington Sundar, he sidestepped the issue. “I think everyone saw on TV what happened and they all must have enjoyed it,” Washington said on JioHotstar.

Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar felt that Indian batters were well within their rights to continue unless there was an agreement prior that match will be called off before start of last

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