Boycott, who once called Gambhir ‘rubbish’, slams England captain Stokes over ‘handshake’ saga

Cricket great and former England captain Geoffrey Boycott has come down hard on his country’s Test skipper Ben Stokes for his latest on-field antics that made headlines worldwide. Fondly remembered for calling out current Indian head coach and ex-Test opener, Gautam Gambhir, 'rubbish' for his almost brain-fade moment during a Test in the UK in 2014, Boycott didn’t spare Stokes for embarrassing his team and himself in the just-concluded Manchester Test against India. In his article for The Telegraph, Boycott shrugged off Stokes’ idea of trying to end the game when the two Indian batters at the crease (late on day five) were closing in on their respective Test hundreds.

Though Stokes explained (in the post-match presser) why he opted to shake hands with Ravindra Jadeja about 15 overs before the day was about to end anyway, Boycott said no way he would have let anyone drag him off on 89 (Jadeja’s score at the time of this episode unfolded) after having worked extensively hard to safeguard his team’s chances in a Test match.

"There is no way I would have let anyone drag me off on 89 after I had worked hard all day to save the game for my team," Geoffrey Boycott wrote in his column for The Telegraph. "Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar deserved their hundreds. They left the ball well, played with the full face of the bat and defended their wickets at all costs. Well done.

"I’m not sure what it is with modern players. You hear a lot of them mouthing off. It never really happened when I was playing. It will carry on at the Oval, and India will go there thinking they got a win at Old Trafford.

"You learn more from failure than you do from success. And we failed to bowl India out. The draw highlighted the deficiencies in our bowling. If you think about it, when your best bowler in both innings is the England captain, who is a batsman-bowler, something is not right," Boycott continued.

What happened out there?

At a time when India and England were marching towards a dead draw in the fourth Test at Old Trafford, Stokes, as part of this game’s tradition, approached Jadeja and Sundar (80*) in an attempt to all agreeing to wrap up this game, only for him to face rejection from Jadeja, who made it clear that the pair wishes to bat further, to complete their respective hundreds.

That, for some reason, irked Stokes and his teammate, who then crowded Jadeja and began exchanging remarks. The umpires had to intervene, and everyone returned to usual proceedings sooner.

Shortly after the pair completed their respective hundreds, they shook hands with Stokes, agreeing to end the game.