Former India cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar and Ravindra Jadeja have had a love-hate relationship. Manjrekar's "bits and pieces cricketer" comment led to Jadeja going berserk in ODI World Cup 2019. Six years later, Manjrekar didn't mince his words while talking about Jadeja's lack of impact on Day 5 pitch at Headingley, Leeds.
Manjrekar defended the pacers as he felt there wasn't much help for them from the pitch of the conditions. He pointed out centurion Ben Duckett's record against Jasprit Bumrah and Jadeja. He feels that Jadeja did not exploit the rough and he did not deliver upto expectations.
"Funnily enough, the pitch didn't offer any lateral movement to India's seam bowlers. Even Bumrah couldn't get anything out of the pitch. Nothing in the air as well. Plus, the fact that Ben Duckett is tremendous against Bumrah and has one of the best records against him and against Jadeja. I don't think he's got out to Jadeja ever, and he's played Jadeja at home as well. So when you have an English batter who is very good against two of your frontline bowlers, then you're set for a win," he said on Star Sports.
"See, it's not fair to be critical of the younger players like Prasidh Krishna. There are obvious areas of improvement, but I'm going to be critical of Jadeja because this is a final-day pitch. There's a rough for him to play with. And in the end, I know there were a couple of chances there, but we have to expect more from Jadeja. These are not typical English conditions. This is not where the pitch has nothing to offer. I thought he didn't use the rough enough against Ben Stokes. He did, but against Ben Duckett very late in the day, in the innings, he came and started using the rough from experienced bowlers, experienced batsmen, you expect more. And somewhere, I think Jadeja was disappointing because the seamers had nothing in the pitch for them. But at least Jadeja has something," he added.
How Jadeja fared in Headingley Test?
In the first innings, Jadeja remained wicketless. He bowled 23 overs including four maidens and conceded 68 runs. While defending a target of 371, he bowled 24 overs including one maiden. The left-arm spinner went for 104 runs and was able to take the solitary wicket of captain Stokes.
He struggled with the bat as well. In the first inings, he got bowled by Josh Tongue for 11. In the second innings, he remained unbeaten for 25.