“They weren’t playing for 100s, they were batting for a draw” - Dale Steyn slams Indian batters on handshake controversy

Former South African pacer Dale Steyn has slammed the Indian batters Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar for choosing their respective centuries instead of going for a draw against England on the fifth and final day of the Manchester Test.

Moving into the details, both the spinner Tabraiz Shamsi and Steyn were involved in an interesting conversation on X (Formerly Twitter). While Shamsi backed the Indian batters’ decision to go for their respective milestones, Steyn disagreed with him as the main goal was to go for a draw, instead of scoring their hundreds.

"Why is there such a big deal being made about the Indians choosing not to accept the offer to end the game in a draw immediately? The offer was made. The offer was rejected, and they were fully entitled to make their choice. They got their 100s, which they worked hard for. Game over," Shamsi wrote on X.

Steyn was quick to respond to Shamsi’s tweet, stating that batters weren’t playing for their centuries, but they were batting for a draw, which was the main goal for them. As the result was out of the question, they should’ve gone ahead with handshakes.

“Shamo this onion has many layers to it, and each one will make someone cry. 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? It’s not then the time to realize they safe and now say no we’d prefer some free milestones… although within the rules, just seems a little, well, odd. That said, they did bat well, and maybe with the last hour approaching they should have been more aggressive in reaching those milestones, at least then, we could all agree, no team tried to out do the other in this weird situation,” Steyn tweeted in response to Shamsi.

https://x.com/DaleSteyn62/status/1949901508583313779

India will take on England in the fifth and final Test at the Kennington Oval in London, starting on Thursday, July 31.

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