“Your goal is to see the game to safety, right?” - Ex-England batter opens up on handshake controversy

Former England batter and commentator Mark Butcher has stated that the Indian batters Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar had achieved the goal (draw) of the fourth Test in Manchester at the point when Ben Stokes tried to shake hands.

Furthermore, he asserted that there were a lot of batters who got stranded in their nineties in a run-chase in limited-overs or Test cricket, adding that the goal should be to take the team to a safe zone instead of looking for milestones.

"Having achieved the goal of drawing the game, which is the goal, England were perfectly entitled to say, 'You know what, congrats, well done, you were too good for us to force the victory, we're done, let's call it a day.',” Butcher told the Wisden Weekly Podcast.

"And I think India were entitled perhaps to go on and get those two guys' 100. But the thing that I go back to is this: Your goal is to see the game to safety, right? In the same way that in a run chase, your goal is to score one more run than the opposition or make sure you get over the line,” he added.

"Now, plenty of batters have been left 96, 97, 98, 99 not out in a run chase. And you can't keep the game going in order to satisfy your need to get three figures,” he noted.

Moreover, Butcher also talked about the way England reacted to India declining the handshake when the Indian batting duo was batting in their 80s. Interestingly, Stokes came up with an animated reaction when the hand shake was declined by Jadeja.

"I can understand why England were irked. I can't understand why they kept on once the decision had been declined or the offer had been declined, because India were well within their rights to do so. But again, you've been in the field for five sessions, another long five-day Test match. Everyone is a little bit overtired, shall we say, and in need of bedtime, and so tempers flared over a little bit,” he observed. 

Also, Butcher stated the importance of individual milestones and the need to celebrate them, adding that Indian batters ensured that England fielders got to field for an extra 30 minutes, tiring them before the fifth Test.

"Did they deserve to score a couple of hundreds after playing so magnificently? Yes. Was keeping the entire operation out there for another half an hour while those two satisfied their need for the hundreds... I'm not entirely sure. I don't know if that's what the game is for, but individual milestones are important,” he stated.

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