Another draw offer in the cricket

I mentioned this point a number of years ago, but the end of today's 3rd Cricket Test between Australia and India lets me mention it again.
With 5 overs to play, Australia realised that they were unlikely to dismiss the last 4 Indian batsmen to win the game, and agreed to end the game early. India were obviously in no position to win (being well short of the number of runs required) although the offer went to the Umpires rather than to the other team.
The ability to end games early in Cricket has been around for a while, and in a sense serves the same purpose as agreed draws in chess. In a sport where a draw is a common enough outcome, once both sides realise that a win is out of reach for both teams, then agreeing to that result is perfectly sensible.