‘Could not believe how poorly Ravindra Jadeja bowled': Mark Butcher's verdict after Leeds Test
Ravindra Jadeja has been pilloried for his efforts with the ball in the first India versus England Test at Headingley, where he laboured for nearly 50 overs and ended with just one wicket to show for it. Ben Stokes, who aided his own downfall by going for an audacious reverse sweep in the second innings with the finish line appearing close, was Jadeja's only victim at Leeds.
Jadeja's figures with the ball at the end of the first Test read: 47 overs, 172 runs and one wicket.
With the bat too, Jadeja, one of India's senior-most players in the XI could manage just 11 and 25*.
'I could not believe how poorly Jadeja bowled, really,' said former England batter Mark Butcher on the Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast. 'I'd likened it to owning a hammer but punching nails in with your fist instead – not landing the ball in the rough at all until, basically, it was too late. That was extraordinary, really.
'You talk about experience, and Jadeja has all the experience in the world. Somehow, it didn't seem to click to him or Rishabh Pant, the keeper, that it might be a good idea not to keep missing the rough all day to the left-handers.'
Butcher then pointed out how picking Shardul Thakur had dulled their attack with the ball.
'The issue around the lineup itself… how much more interesting might that last day have been had they gone for Kuldeep [Yadav] instead of [Shardul] Thakur, Thakur had had a really poor game until that one over where he gave India a tiny sniff at the back-end.
'If you're not contributing with the bat down there at No.8, you damn well be taking wickets, and be in the game as a bowler for more of the game than he was,' he added.
After losing the first Test to England at Headingley in Leeds by five wickets, India will be back in action on July 2-6 at Edgbaston, Birmingham.
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