Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has shared strong views on Ravindra Jadeja’s performance during India’s narrow loss to England at Lord’s. Though Jadeja played a gritty knock of 61 not out and built crucial partnerships with the lower order, Shastri believes he missed a chance to push harder for a win. India, having collapsed to 112/8, eventually reached 172, giving fans a glimmer of hope before losing by 22 runs.
While Jadeja held one end and played cautiously, Shastri felt he should’ve taken more risks earlier in the innings, especially when the field was up and the ball was still hard. Speaking on The Overlap Podcast, Shastri said the best time to attack was before lunch when Jadeja and Nitish Reddy were batting together. He explained that once the ball got soft, chances of a surprise dismissal increased, so a more aggressive approach earlier could’ve helped reduce the target and kept India in the game longer.
Drawing comparisons to Ben Stokes’ iconic 2019 Ashes knock at Headingley, Shastri pointed out that Jadeja has the talent but needs to believe more in his batting. “If Jadeja had even 40% of Stokes’ belief, he’d win more games. He has the skill, but he must take charge,” Shastri said.
Ask ChatGPT
