Dinesh Karthik, a former cricket player for India, criticised Ravindra Jadeja’s bowling lines during the just finished first Test of the England vs. India series. Karthik believed that in order to produce good results from the surface, which had nothing additional for spinners, Jadeja ought to have taken use of the rough spots on the Headingley pitch more.
He also gave praise to captain Shubman Gill’s strategies and the way Ben Duckett played with Ravindra Jadeja to stop the run flow.
In the second innings, Duckett faced Jadeja and scored 38 runs off as many balls as he faced. This allowed him to keep the runs flowing quickly and thickly, which benefited the team’s cause. He also hit an incredible 149 to win Player of the Match.
“I find it incomprehensible that Jadeja was bowling straight rather than into the rough, as a man with his level of expertise should understand what it means to bowl in the rough. He ought to have bowled into the rough and missed the wicket. Today, Duckett dominated the purest form in the most ingenious way possible. Karthik said Cricbuzz, “I’m going to play that shot no matter where you put the field,” referring to the manner he just played with Jadeja and Shubman Gill.
Prasidh did not bowl consistent lengths, Shardul: Karthik
When evaluating the current crop of Indian pace batteries, the former cricket player turned analyst was direct. He believed that the paucity of wickets and their loss of control of the game were caused by Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna’s failure to continue the work of Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah.
“It’s a fact that we don’t have the skill set to go beyond the bowlers who can truly make an impact. The Indian squad will eventually locate bowlers and begin defending these scores, so you can’t be too rough on them. Siraj and Bumrah bowled a superb opening spell; they set the stage but did not take any wickets. He went on to say that Shardul and Prasidh’s bowling was inconsistent and dispersed.
In the end, India lost the match by five wickets. Jadeja’s performance in particular was noteworthy because, although delivering more than 20 overs in each innings, he was only able to take one wicket in both Test innings for the second time in his career. The first being the March 2023 Test match between Australia and Ahmedabad.