ENG vs IND 2025: Ravindra Jadeja celebrates hard-fought draw by kissing Manchester pitch

Published - 27 Jul 2025, 23:40 IST | Updated - 27 Jul 2025, 23:40 IST

Ravindra Jadeja planted a kiss on the Manchester pitch after remaining unbeaten right till the end to grant a valiant draw to India in their fourth Test of the ongoing five-match series against England. His fifth Test ton (107* off 185) ensured the series is well and alive ahead of the final contest at The Oval.

Coming in at No. 6, Jadeja fought brilliantly well with Washington Sundar (101* off 206) to secure the draw for the visitors. He had come into bat at a tricky situation with India still trailing by 89 runs. Jadeja combined exquisitely with Sundar to stitch together an unbeaten 203-run stand for the fifth wicket to completely drain out the opposition.

There were multiple records which were scripted with this result which India managed to pull off. They became the first team to register seven 350-plus scores in a Test series. This was also the first time that four Indian batters aggregated 400-plus runs in a Test series (Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Jadeja).

The memorable game was also the first time India had managed to have three centurions in the third or fourth innings of a Test match (Gill's 103 off 238 in addition to those by Jadeja and Sundar). This was only the third time India had batted out more overs in the third innings to save a Test after conceding a lead northwards of 300 in the first innings.

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England currently lead the series by a 2-1 margin. However, the fixture at The Oval will be far from a dead rubber after how India battled it out at Old Trafford in the last couple of days with the bat. They would be keen on getting their combinations right and levelling the series after a heroic performance like the one just witnessed.