Ravindra Jadeja: Last Man Standing

AT LORD'S ON Day Five, India were at one stage reduced to 81 for 7. Each time such a thing has hap­pened in the recent past, the team in question has subsequently folded up for a few more runs. I feared that it would be the same at Lord's and England would seize all momentum going forward. Ravindra Jadeja was the lone hope out there as Nitish Kumar Reddy joined him.

In the next hour, we witnessed dour resistance. Both Jadeja and Reddy weren't willing to concede without a fight and had started to thwart England. Defending with skill and showing enough patience, they managed to stitch together a 30-run part­nership and take India to 112. Just when it seemed that there would be no further casu­alties ahead of lunch, Reddy edged one from Chris Woakes to wicketkeeper Jamie Smith. It has now happened multiple times in this series that India have lost wickets at the stroke of lunch and let the game slip. This is one aspect the Indian management will want to address ahead of Manchester. Whatever the reason, India tend to lose a wicket be­tween 12.50-1 pm local time or 5.20-5.30PM IST. It is turning into a bad habit and has cost India multiple times already. At Lord's, it was no different.

That's when you felt for Jadeja. He had worked very hard to stay out there and get in. He had blunted everything that was thrown at him, and now he was starting to run out of partners. Ben Stokes & Co. were also giving him the verbal, but with Jadeja, such things don't matter. He is a veteran and is capable of handling every kind of sledging. The im­portant thing was his approach. Would he come out post-lunch and start to hit a few, or would he back Bumrah and Siraj and try to take the game deep?

Post-lunch, England had six fielders on the boundary for Jadeja and on a deteriorating wicket, it was impossible to hit against disci­plined, skilful bowling. Jadeja had little op­tion but to stay patient and keep taking sin­gles while chancing his arm whenever the opportunity presented itself. For example, each time the bowler drifted onto his pads, he would flick it for a boundary and keep the scoreboard ticking.

In what was an enthralling session between lunch and tea, India lost just one wicket. Bumrah, after playing 55 balls, finally perished to Stokes. As the wicket fell, Jadeja's reaction said it all. He was gutted and dis­traught. By then, he had started to believe that he could take India over the line and was determined to do so. Bumrah too was upset with himself and knew that he had fallen into the trap. Had he restrained himself a little more, things could have gone India's way. At 147-9, the dream was getting a bit too far. In comes Mohammed Siraj, and the fight starts again. Much like Bumrah, Siraj too wasn't ready to give up. And now Jadeja was starting to find further resolve. The 30-minute extension to the post-lunch session did not help England, and at 162-9 at tea, India were very much in the fight.

Social media, however, thought otherwise. Much to my amusement, I saw Jadeja being trolled for batting slowly. A lot of abuse was heaped on him. Why was he not hitting it was the common refrain? The truth is, he wasn't playing ping-pong-ball cricket on his terrace that he could just hit whenever he wanted to. He was batting against the likes of Jofra Archer, Stokes and Brydon Carse on a fifth-day wicket, which had enough in it for the bowlers. There were enough cracks and uneven bounce for the bowlers to exploit. The top order is proof that things weren't easy. That Jadeja did not get out for close to four hours was a testimony to his fight and resil­ience. To troll him was plain stupidity. And yet people would resort to doing so.

Even after tea for a good twenty minutes, the pair wasn't separated. For me, 170 was the Lakshman Rekha. The moment the score touched 170, I felt India had a chance. England would also start to feel the pressure, and the new ball was still five overs away. Had the freakish Siraj dismissal not happened, it could have been the greatest chase masterclass by Jadeja. He had planned it superbly and was ex­ecuting it as well. I am sure he knew the new ball wouldn't be easy and would have gone for the last few runs between overs 78-80. Siraj's dismissal changed all that, and India lost a match they should have won.

By every yardstick, 192 was gettable. One good partnership of 50-60 runs, and it could have turned out easier. One counter-attacking innings could have done the job for India. In a game where India had multiple chances of closing things out, they needed to take at least one of them. That's where India faltered, and that's why Jadeja's fight was in vain. Jadeja did not lose India the game. The missed oppor­tunities on each of the first four days, which could have helped India seize control, made the difference in the end.

Whatever social media might feel, I think Jadeja has been stellar this series. A superb hand in Edgbaston, which made a real con­tribution to the Indian win and now back-to-back fifties at Lord's, the way Jadeja has bat­ted has been commendable. And yet fans don't seem to be happy. Or should I call them trolls? To attack Jadeja is to miss the wood for the trees. Hitting out wasn't an option and would have handed the game to England on a platter. His only option was to keep England at bay and keep the scoreboard ticking. He did that to perfection and made a match of it. It was an effort of the highest class and should be looked upon as such. Anything else would be plain wrong and unfair.

Going forward to Manchester, India need this resilience from Jadeja. And the fight from the lower order. But more importantly, what they also need is to win the key moments, which could give them the definitive advantage they need. Once you have an opening, you need to shut the opponent out. That's where India has faltered. To go back to the famous words of Sachin Tendulkar ahead of the 2008 second CB series final in Australia. "Jab sher leta hua hota hai, usey wahin pe maar do. Usey dobara uthne mat do [Finish a tiger when you see it lying down. Do not let it get up]". That's what India need to do, and only then will Jadeja's fight get its due.