Gill, Washington, Jadeja tons script India's great escape

An epic series will be decided at The Oval. England lead 2-1 after 20 tense days of Test cricket but were denied a decisive win by five sessions of doughty, determined batting in which India lost only two wickets. Not even Ben Stokes, battling cramp and a shoulder injury, could pull this one off, and was forced to settle for only the second draw of his captaincy tenure.

India were 1 for 2 at lunch on the fourth day, frazzled after more than 150 overs in the field, and still trailing by over 300 runs. But Shubman Gill's new-look side underlined their character with two mammoth, match-saving partnerships - Gill put on 188 with KL Rahul, and Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja put on an unbroken 203 - to ensure India escaped with a draw.

They can no longer win the inaugural Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, but will travel down to London on Monday battered, bruised and bullish. India's batters not only saved this match, but ground England's bowlers down: they spent 257.1 overs in the field in Manchester, including 143 in the second innings, and now face a three-day turnaround before Thursday's fifth Test.

The finale was farcical: Stokes offered a draw at the start of the last hour but Gill had no interest, instead allowing his two allrounders to complete their centuries. England were incensed, serving up some 35mph lobs, but India's players celebrated on the balcony as their batters filled their boots.

"It's going to happen in a flurry, lads," Ben Duckett had promised his team-mates during the second session. In fact, it never happened at all. It is long established that no captain had ever won a Test match at Old Trafford after winning the toss and choosing to bowl; Stokes asked his team to defy history, but they could not.

It was Gill who had walked in to face a hat-trick ball in the first over of India's second innings shortly before lunch on the fourth day. When he walked back off just over 24 hours later, he had become only the third man to score four hundreds in a Test series as captain, going past 700 runs for the tour. Every time he has reached 20, he has gone on to score a century.

He was supported by two marathon efforts from his spin-bowling allrounders. Washington batted at No. 8 in the first innings but was promoted to No. 5 after Rishabh Pant's injury, and made his maiden Test hundred, while Jadeja capped his stellar series with the bat. Much as it frustrated England, both players deserved centuries, and had earned the right to make them.

Stokes' bowling fitness was uncertain overnight: he did not bowl at all on the fourth day after a heavy workload in the series - and a five-wicket haul in the first innings - having retired hurt during his century. But he shared the old ball with Liam Dawson early in the day and threatened to break the game open, creating two early chances in an eight-over spell.

He grimaced after every ball he bowled and repeatedly stretched out his right shoulder, but Stokes bowled with good pace and found variable bounce on a good length outside the right-handers' off stump. He had Gill dropped early on, Ollie Pope failing to cling onto a stinger at short cover, but then trapped Rahul on the back pad to have him lbw for 90.

It was a brilliant spell, one which exposed just how much England had missed his bowling on the fourth evening. Stokes was in pain, then inflicted some on his opposite number: he found some steep bounce to strike Gill on the helmet - via the glove - with a lifter which exploded from a good length.

But Gill pressed on, steering Chris Woakes through the off side then yelping in celebration as he brought up his fourth century of the tour. His dismissal, edging Jofra Archer behind, represented an opening, not least when Jadeja edged his first ball to first slip. But Joe Root put the catch down, and England hardly created another chance all day.

Dawson wheeled away for 47 overs in the second innings and bowled tightly, but rarely threatened the edge, and the seamers had nothing to work with: Archer exchanged tense words with his captain over a field change, Woakes bowled slower balls into the rough, Brydon Carse was hardly seen, and Stokes bowled only three overs after lunch.

Jadeja and Washington had 89 and 80, respectively, when Stokes offered a draw, but Gill looked out steadfastly through the dressing-room window. It prompted Brook to bowl some filth, and both batters reached three figures off his bowling: Jadeja roared in celebration on reaching his by lofting a straight six, while Washington raised his arms aloft as he sauntered back for two.

It made for a strange end to a compelling Test match. Only 24 wickets fell across the five days, and the finish was an anti-climax. But the fraying tempers were the result of India's doughty resistance across five sessions of determined batting. It seemed unfathomable on Saturday afternoon, but they will head to The Oval believing that they can snatch a series draw.