On the first day of the third Test between India and England in Rajkot, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja left his mark on former England captain Michael Vaughan. Veteran English cricketer Michael Vaughan shared his unique perspective on Ravindra Jadeja‘s batting amid the fervor for cricket, which added another level of intrigue to the drama playing out on the cricket field.
After the hosts were down 33-3 when Jadeja came in to bat, they combined for 204 runs to build a massive partnership that secured their innings. Ravindra Jadeja and Sarfaraz Khan shared another significant partnership of 77 runs.
Unfortunately, Jadeja was a part of Sarfaraz Khan’s run-out, ending the debutant’s encouraging 62-run innings. On 110, the all-rounder is still undefeated, and the hosts have already amassed 326/5. Vaughan believes that India could score an enormous score if they surpass 450 runs.
Ravindra Jadeja played more traditional style Test match than Rohit Sharma and Sarfaraz Khan- Michael Vaughan
Since the Indian batting lineup was weaker than usual, Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel both made their debuts that day, and Jadeja actually came out to bat at No. 5 rather than his usual No. 6 or No. 7. In the test format, this was also Jadeja’s first-ever century in this position.
After Day 1’s play ended, Michael Vaughan expressed his opinion to Cricbuzz that Ravindra Jadeja showed even more patience than his partners in those two significant partnerships. Vaughan stated:
“Jadeja’s mindset is like a top-order batter despite him playing at No.7 for the most part of his career. He is willing to do the hard yards, he is willing to see a bowler off, he played more traditional style Test match than Rohit Sharma and Sarfaraz Khan. He was a throwback to how we played Test match cricket. Just bat, bat and bat, do not give any chances,”
Ravindra Jadeja is a class act- Michael Vaughan on Ravindra Jadeja’s consistency
Michael Vaughan also discussed Ravindra Jadeja’s consistency with bat, particularly when playing at home. According to him, as the Rajkot pitch stopped to assist the England bowlers, Jadeja’s strategy was to impose more and more of misery on the visitors.
“Ravindra Jadeja is a class act. There is only one area of his game where you can challenge him – a yard outside of off stump, fuller length where you can nip it away. Jimmy and Mark Wood tried that through the day. he played and missed a few. On Indian wickets where there is not a lot of zip, I tink that he is a very very consistent performer,” said Michael Vaughan.
On Day 2, Jadeja has Kuldeep Yadav (1*), the nightwatchman, to accompany him. To guide India to a respectable first innings total, though, it appears that the local boy will have to do the majority of the scoring, with debutant Dhruv Jurel and Ravichandran Ashwin to follow.