Jadeja claimed only one wicket after bowling 47 overs in Leeds
India’s bowling strategy looked great on paper for the first Test against England at Headingley. They had three in-form frontline pacers in Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah while a returning Shardul Thakur had a great red-ball season with Mumbai. They had Ravindra Jadeja for the spinner role and bowl a marathon spell.
While Prasidh and Bumrah were the attacking duo, Siraj and Jadeja were supposed to be the ones who dried up runs.
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Bumrah fulfilled his role in the first innings with a brilliant 5-83 but the other faltered in spectacular fashion. Prasidh went over at 6 runs per over in both innings which took the game away from India, while Siraj conceded a total of 172 runs combined while getting two wickets.
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Jadeja, who has the experience of playing in England, bowled 47 overs across both innings, conceded 173 runs but managed to get only the wicket of Ben Stokes in the second innings. Even the dismissal was a result of Stokes going for a risky reverse-sweep.
His former spin partner Ravichandran Ashwin, who had recently retired from international cricket, felt the pacers didn’t create rough patches on a dry Headingley pitch for Jadeja to exploit. Meanwhile, former left-arm spinner Murali Karthik said Jadeja failed to bowl in the rough despite the pitch developing cracks by the end of Day 4.
Former Australia wicketkeeper Brad Haddin felt that Jadeja should be dropped in favour of Kuldeep Yadav as he offers an attacking outlet in English conditions.
“An interesting aspect before the second Test is the decline of Jadeja. I know he is very effective in Indian conditions and how difficult it is to play left-arm spin in India. I don’t think he is an effective spin option to have in the side in the UK. You can have Kuldeep because he is an attacking spinner who can get you wickets. You also need a couple of holding bowlers. I know they have Siraj for that, but they need to be bold with their selection,” Haddin said on LISTNR Sport podcast.
Meanwhile, former England captain Mark Butcher also suggested that Jadeja must be dropped for the second Test in Edgbaston after failing to have an impact in the first Test.
“I could not believe how poorly Jadeja bowled, really. 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,” Butcher said on Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast.
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