Ravindra Jadeja slammed for 'dead-batting' as unimpressed England great proposes radical India change despite series win
Ravindra Jadeja endured a rough outing with the bat in the fourth Test, in Ranchi scoring 12 and 4 respectively.
Legendary former England captain Alastair Cook advised India to demote Ravindra Jadeja in the batting order following his side's win over the English team in the fourth Test in Ranchi. After scoring a century while batting at the number 5 spot in the first innings in the third Test, the team management stuck with him at the position in Ranchi but it didn't reap rewards.
The southpaw scored 12 and 4 in the fourth Test as he was sent to bat over Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel. Jadeja inside-edged the ball to forward short leg in the first innings, while it turned out to be a soft dismissal for him in the second innings on Day 4, where he played a full toss straight to Jonny Bairstow's hands at mid-wicket. He became a victim of off-spinner Shoaib Bashir on both occasions.
After India's five-wicket win in Ranchi, Cook shared his views on Jadeja's failure at the number 5 spot and said that he was unable to find the right balance between attack and defence in pressure situations.
Jadeja should be batting lower: Cook
“Jadeja in particular showed probably why he should be batting a little bit lower,” Cook explained. “Yes he can score runs but the ability, under pressure, to find that balance between attack and defence under pressure – pressure does funny thing to you," Cook said on TNT Sports.
"Jadeja is a world-class all-rounder, but batting at five there he struggled in terms of taking no risks because he didn’t want to get out or trying to put a bit of pressure back on as a batter," he added.
Cook suggested that India should promote wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel in the batting order as he played a couple of crucial knocks in Ranchi and was also named Player of the Match.
“But Jurel found that balance perfectly with his foot movement and sharpness of mind," he added.
The former England captain further elaborated on Jadeja's batting approach and how it didn't allow him to score runs freely which in the contrary Jurel managed to do it by manoeuvring the ball in the gaps.
“Jadeja was just dead-batting everything, there’s no chance of getting any runs whatsoever. So even when Jurel is defending because he’s so sharp when he’s tucking the ball on the leg-side if it’s perfect he may get a run. And that’s just the balancing act that slightly better players have – and I’m not calling Jadeja a bad player at all, he [Jurel] might just have slightly better ball manoeuvring than Jadeja.”
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