Ravi Shastri Slams Jadeja: ‘Took Him Ages to Get Going, Needs Even 40% of Stokes’ Belief’

Ravi Shastri Slams Jadeja: More than one week has already passed since the tragic defeat of India against England at Lord. The scene has been set, as it is the 4 th chapter of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy and it is going to take place at the Old Trafford in Manchester, yet a part of everyone is still struck on the events of eight days ago in London, in which, despite fighting gallantly, India was prevented by 22 runs as the ball, off the blade of Mohammed Siraj, squirted onto the stumps.

Then, through sheer determination, even being 112/8 and when the match looked like it would end in the first session, India were able to take their score to 172 and this goes on telling about the spirit exhibited by the lower order in this match that included Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.

Also Read: Air India Plane’s Tail Catches Fire After Landing at Delhi Airport; No Injuries Reported

Stitching invaluable alignments of 35 with Nitish Reddy, 30 with Jasprit Bumrah and 23 with Siraj as he held one end of the side, at one stage revived the prospect of an India victory which not many would have thought possible a couple of hours ago. Jadeja did not get out on 61 off 181 balls; though, regardless of his intentions, the innings of the India all-rounder elicited mixed reactions. Jadeja only turned the strike carefully, leaving the last two balls of the over to his tail-end partners, although some people like Ravi Shastri wished he should have been more aggressive.

Shastri was not quiet about it as he stated on the air and kept on reminding Jadeja to attack the bowling, particularly against Shoaib Bashir and Joe Root when there were fielders in position. Even then Jadeja chose the safer option which Shastri reasons out could have been avoided.

"I thought the time was before lunch, when Nitish Reddy and Jadeja were batting. One of the two should have gone for it. Because the field was up. The ball was a little harder. Once it got soft, you knew there would be one delivery with your name written on it. At some stage, I thought they could have taken more chances, and brought that deficit down to about 40, and then play the way they did," Shastri said on The Overlap Podcast.

Also Read: Why Apache Attack Helicopters Mark a ‘Milestone Moment’ for India’s Defence

Ravindra Jadeja vs Ben Stokes

Jadeja has been compared to the one in a lifetime knock of England skipper Ben Stokes, when the English batsman had played a memorable innings against Australia at Headingley back in the 2019 Ashes.

England took a remarkable flick at Stokes and went to a win single-handed as he added 101 runs with the last 3 wickets going into beast mode paving the way to being dismissed on 135 in his convertible score. The thing is Jadeja is not a great hitter of the ball as Stokes is but Shastri said that given more confidence in his batting, Jadeja would have been an even greater match-winner as far as India is concerned.

"If Jadeja has even 40 percent of the belief of Stokes, he will win you more matches. Because there is no doubt about his talent. It’s just that he has to go and take charge. If he believes he can take charge, he can do it. He’s got three triple-hundreds in First-Class cricket. It took him a long time. Three only. And it took him ages to realise that he has batting potential," added the former India head coach.

Also Read: Unarmed Man Livestreaming at Gaza Port Shot by Israeli Sniper Amid Protest