G. Krishnan
Hyderabad, Jan 27:
While two top-order Indian batsmen missed Test centuries, falling in the 80s, number 6 batsman Ravindra Jadeja has taken his batting a few notches up and played responsibly.
After opener Yashasvi Jaiswal missed on a maiden Test century on Indian soil, going for an attacking shot in part-time off-spinner Joe Root’s first over and giving him a return catch for 80; after KL Rahul, after a wonderful 86, holed out to deep mid-wicket for 86, the left-handed Jadeja remained unbeaten on 81 at stumps on Day 2 on Friday.
Jadeja and fellow left-handed batting all-rounder Axar Patel (35*) shared 63 unseparated for the eighth wicket as India, replying to England’s 246, ended the second day on Friday at a commanding 421/7, enjoying a lead of 175. Jadeja also shared two other fifty-plus partnerships – 65 for the fifth wicket with Rahul and 68 for the sixth with K.S. Bharat (41)
The stock of Jadeja the batsman has been rising constantly especially in the Indian conditions that he has earned the right to bat higher than the wicketkeeper batsman K.S. Bharat.
Jadeja’s knock was without a blemish. While he did not hesitate to attack the inexperienced English spinners, of whom their most experienced slow bowler, Jack Leach bowled many short spells during the day and went wicketless as his movements were restricted after banging his knee on the outfield on Thursday evening and again on Friday.
Among the English bowlers, debutant Tom Hartley bowled one long spell of 9-0-30-1 first up on Friday morning while Root bowled the longest spell of 16-2-43-1. Even though the bowling was shared equally as the bowling figures suggest, the England bowlers just could not stop India from running away with a large score.
England’s assistant coach, Jeetan Patel, was not worried about England giving away a 175-run lead at the end of second day. Talking to reporters after the play on Friday, the former New Zealand off-spinner said England were not worried about wiping out whatever first innings deficit they faced and then set up a target for India.
Patel said: “We are not thinking of any deficit. We are thinking about taking the three remaining Indian wickets. What is in front of us is what we need to do and then worry about other stuff later. They (England batsmen) are an exciting batting bunch. They want to showcase how good they are. And, I think there is a certain energy around this pitch, what would happen in the fourth innings, we don’t know.”
Patel, however, was confident of his spinners improving day by day as the match and series went on. Asked if he saw challenges for his inexperienced spinners on the typical Indian pitches, Patel was confident of his bowlers learning along the way. He said: “I just think that’s another opportunity. It’s another opportunity to play Test cricket in India, to take Test wickets and to learn and grow the squad of English cricket. It’s not going to be easy. Just because it’s spinning doesn’t mean it makes the game easier. Sometimes it becomes harder because there’s so much expectation (from the spinners). Our guys learnt from Thursday and bowled better on Friday and will bowl better on Saturday and the day after. They have to no keep getting better series.”
Meanwhile, young India opener Jaiswal regretted missing a century in his first appearance in India, falling on the second delivery of the day. “It was my first Test in India after playing two Tests each in West Indies and South Africa. I was thinking of contributing well for my team. It would have been amazing if I scored a century. My thinking was to score runs and make sure of building my innings. I was being positive and was looking forward to scoring runs. I could have played well and got my century. But it is fine. It happens in cricket. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn’t.”
