Former England cricketer Stuart Broad was highly critical of Ben Stokes & Co. for the drama that unfolded on Day 54 of the Manchester Test against India. It all began when both Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar refused to take Stokes' offer of ending the match as a draw with 15 overs left to play. This was due to the fact that both the batters were quite close to reaching their hundreds. This left the England camp furious and it led Stokes to bring in part-timers Harry Brook and Joe Root into the attack.
Broad lashed out at Brook's bowling
Brook ended up bowling some incredibly poor deliveries to the Indian batters, who pounced on the opportunity and cruised to their centuries. Broad described Brook's bowling as 'embarrassing' and also questioned why the latter was trying to bowl off-spin when he is a medium pacer.
"Harry Brook came on to bowl and he bowled absolute filth. He bowled off spin. It was a bit of an embarrassing moment," Broad said on the 'For The Love of Cricket' podcast.
"Right-arm medium pace and you come up and bowl off spin? I didn't know he bowled off spin. He looked like a poor man's Dan Lawrence in his action. He was trying to get the game done," he added.
Meanwhile, India pulled off a hard-fought draw against England in the fourth Test at Old Trafford. After getting restricted to 0/2 at one stage and trailing the hosts by 311 runs, the Men in Blue managed to turn things around thanks to huge partnerships which saw them wrap up the fifth day on 425/4. Firstly, the duo of KL Rahul and Shubman Gill formed a massive 188-run stand to stabilize India's innings. The latter would go on to score his fourth ton of the series, continuing his fine form against the England bowlers.
Following the dismissal of the two, Jadeja and Sundar would form a humongous unbeaten stand of 203 runs which saw both of them get to their hundreds. The former remained unbeaten on 101 while the latter also scored 107 runs without getting dismissed as they incredibly frustrated the England team, who ended up losing their cool by the end of the match.
Meanwhile, the Three Lions lead the series by 2-1 heading into the final match which is set to commence from July 31 at The Oval. The draw in Manchester saw India lose all the chances of recording their first Test series triumph on English soil since 2007. However, they still do have the chance of drawing the series but that will only happen if they win the fifth Test. Any other result will see England lift the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy so they are definitely the favourites heading into the final match.