Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar has said that Ravindra Jadeja’s opening day performance with the ball was a “wake-up call” for the spin-bowling all-rounder.
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Jadeja picked up three wickets on the opening day at Hyderabad but was the most expensive of the three India spinners. His 18 overs leaked 88 runs, giving Jadeja an economy rate of 4.88 runs per over – his highest in a Test innings where he has bowled more than five overs as Ben Duckett, Jonny Bairstow and then Ben Stokes took the attack to him. In comparison, Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin conceded their runs at 2.53 and 3.23 runs per over respectively.
His breakthroughs were important, though. He displaced the jittery Ollie Pope at No. 3 and had England’s best player of spin, Joe Root, caught at short fine-leg off a top edge. Even his third wicket, that of Tom Hartley, was an important one as the England debutant threatened to turn his enterprising cameo into a more significant contribution.
Manjrekar, speaking on ESPNcricinfo‘s Matchday coverage, said that it was more than just England’s attacking method that contributed to Jadeja’s expensive day at the office. “It [England’s attacking method] certainly worked to an extent against Jadeja because it is something that he’s not used to,” said Manjrekar. “I thought Ashwin handled it quite well and Axar Patel was okay but also Jadeja, a left-arm spinner, bowled to Ben Stokes a lot and the kind of shots that played, to play that reverse shot that he plays against the turn, is something Jadeja isn’t [accustomed to]. He was tested.”
“I’m sure he’ll come up with better plans and better preparation for that kind of approach [against him]. You saw that it also unsettled Jadeja a little bit. One of the greatest strengths of Jadeja is his accuracy and if you look at his pitch map, in this innings you’ll see that a lot of balls have been loose balls. That is something you don’t expect with Jadeja so yes, it was a bit of a wake-up call for Jadeja but considering the competitor that he is, I’m sure he’ll be more wary of this kind of an approach.”
