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India's veteran batter-turned-broadcaster Cheteshwar Pujara believes Ravindra Jadeja could have played more shots in the mid- off and cover region for quick runs. Pujara defended his Saurashtra teammate for his unbeaten 61 off 181 balls, where he was left stranded at the other end despite the gutsy fight shown by tailenders Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah.
Jadeja came to bat when India were struggling at 71/5. He batted with the tail to take India close to the target but Shoaib Bashir dismissed Siraj to end the visitors' ressistance and lead England to a 22-run victory.
Talking about Jadeja's approach in his knock of 61 not out, Pujara said (via Indian express): "The only thing he could have done better is to look to score down the ground. Like there was a gap between mid-off and cover. He couldn’t have scored faster on that track. I felt that it was because the ball was soft, and the pitch was on the slower side. I guess, Jadeja would have thought that the tailenders were batting well and the team was getting close to the total."
He further added, "And once they were a little closer he would have taken his chances. I thought he was batting well. It was very difficult to score runs on that pitch."
The pitch was difficult to bat on in the fourth innings. In addition, the duke ball getting soft made strokeplay a bit tedious. The only india batter who scored more than 20 runs apart from Jadeja was India opener KL Rahul, who scored 39 runs from 58 balls, but got out lbw by an inswinging ball from England's captain Ben Stokes.
Pujara on Jadeja's purple patch in Tests
Pujara also praised the Indian all- rounder Jadeja for improving his batting skills. The 36-year-old scored his fourth consecutive half-century of the series and is arguably in his best batting batting form in the red-ball format.
"He is now able to face seamers and spinners equally well. Earlier, he was a good player of spin but lacked a little bit of strength against seamers, which is not the case now. Earlier it was the case of him not converting his good starts to big scores at the highest level. See one can’t get 300 in first class cricket without skills. But you need to convert, like you do at first-class level, at international level," said Pujara (via the aforementioned source).
"For the last five years, he has improved, especially abroad. He has been working hard. If you notice, even on the match day, he does his net practice. He has shown improvement when playing pace," he concluded.
The fourth Test of the series will be played from July 23 at Old Trafford, Manchester. To level series, India will need to register their first ever Test win at the venue.
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