Indian former pacer and the current coach of Gujarat Titans in the IPL, Ashish Nehra, took a hilarious dig at England after India’s fourth Test at Manchester ended in a draw. The coach-turned-commentator advised centurion Washington Sundar to adopt two other dogs and name them as Lord’s and Manchester, respectively.
Nehra playfully made these remarks on the Sony Sports Network via their YouTube channel after Ben Stokes offered the tourists a chance to settle for a draw, but the two Indian batters, Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja, denied his request as they were nearing their hundreds after having toiled for several sessions on Day 5.
India eventually managed to save their hope in the series, as they ended the fourth Test in a draw and would still enter The Oval trailing 2-1; hence, the best possible result for them would be sharing the Anderson-Tendulkar trophy alongside the hosts, which seemingly might not please England.
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Washington Sundar advised adopting dogs named ‘Lord’s and Manchester’
After India’s heroic draw at Manchester and Indian all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar playing a monumental role, Ashish Nehra has urged the latter to adopt two dogs and name them ‘Lord’s’ and ‘Manchester.’
Notably, Washington had adopted a dog named Gabba following India’s historic win at Gabba back in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy of the 2020/21 series, where he had played a great knock with the bat to unsettle the Australian bowlers.
Hence, after the stunning 4-wicket haul at Lord’s, which for once switched the game in India’s favour, though it did not meet its desired end, it will be a memorable game for Washington Sundar throughout his entire playing career.
Sundar scored a breathtaking hundred at Manchester, sharing a 332-ball 203-run partnership with Ravindra Jadeja; hence, in came Nehra’s hilarious suggestion.
“Then there is Washington Sundar, who has a dog named Gabba after India won the Test match. Now, there will be a line. Now, he will name one Lord’s and another Manchester. When it comes to Ravindra Jadeja, you’ve to bring horses. Dogs won’t work here,” he did not even leave out former CSK teammate Ravindra Jadeja.
Ashish Nehra slams Zak Crawley on handshake row
After the initial fun, Ashish Nehra had also taken a slight dig at English opener Zak Crawley, who intruded on talks between Ben Stokes and Ravindra Jadeja after the latter did not agree to Stokes’ decision of settling for a draw until the duo could reach their hundreds.
“Even if Zak Crawley was batting, he wouldn’t have accepted the draw offer,” remarked Ashish Nehra.
Also, the likes of Indian coach Gautam Gambhir, Indian captain Shubman Gill, and former cricketer Ajay Jadeja backed the two for their decision to reach their well-deserved milestones before ending the Day’s play.
Ben Stokes finds support as former English batter slams Jadeja for chasing milestones
Former English cricketer Jonathan Trott has backed Ben Stokes for his decision to end the match 15 overs before, as he did not find any use in toiling the players, since the match could not end with any possible result.
However, as mentioned earlier, Jadeja and Sundar decided to bat till their hundreds before settling scores with England and rejected the handshake, which infuriated Stokes to an extent.
“In his mind, the game’s done. I don’t think England would have had the personal milestones on their mind personally; that’s just my view. Maybe if somebody was close to getting it, their maiden century, it would have been a little bit different,” the former England batter said.
“You could tell by the way that Ben Stokes has reacted that if they were in the same seat, they probably would have shook the Indian captain’s hand if it was offered – if Shubman Gill went up to the English batsman and they were in the same position, they would have walked off,” said Trott, the former batter on JioStar, in support of the English skipper.
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