Sanjay Manjrekar pummels Ravindra Jadeja for Leeds botch-up, kills 'Jasprit Bumrah' excuse: ‘He was disappointing'

Hindustan Times

7 hours ago

Two narratives built around the Indian team as the new-look Shubman Gill-led side took on England in Leeds. While the sight of five centuries across the two innings cut short all the apprehensions about the batting line-up, which was deemed "inexperienced" after the departure of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah was sympathised with for the lack of support from fellow quicks. However, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar did not side with the second narrative in assessing the reason behind India's loss by five wickets in Leeds. India's Ravindra Jadeja reacts after bowling a delivery to England's Joe Root on day five of the first cricket Test match between England and India(AP)
Speaking to Star Sports after the end of the match at Headingley, where England chased down 371 with ease - their second-highest chase at home, four years after their best-ever show, which incidentally also came up against India, Manjrekar refused to blame the fast bowlers for the result, saying that there was nothing in the pitch for the seamers, especially on Day 5.
Manjrekar, in fact, was in praise of England opener Ben Duckett and how he tackled Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja en route to his match-winning century. ALSO READ: Shubman Gill lacked Kohli-like aura. Shastri kept saying...: Nasser flags 'Jadeja' blunder as 'Hardik' talk returns
"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. 'Jadeja was disappointing'
Manjrekar was rather critical of Jadeja's bowling on Day 5, saying that the track was tailor-made for him to capitalise on the rough area and trouble the England batters. The former India batter admitted he was "disappointed" watching Jadeja's performance, who was the most experienced player in the side.
"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 said.
The spinner managed just one wicket in the final innings, conceding 104 runs in the 24 overs he bowled.