Ravindra Jadeja has been an international cricketer since 2009. He has played 204 One-Day Internationals, 74 Twenty20 Internationals, and is now playing his 82nd Test match. India named Shubman Gill as their new Test captain ahead of the present five-match series against England, after former captain Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from the game. Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant was designated as Gill’s deputy.
Interestingly, Jadeja, one of the most experienced cricketers in the Indian Test team, particularly after the retirements of Rohit, Virat Kohli, and Ravichandran Ashwin, was not considered for the captaincy post. However, the Saurashtra all-rounder is unconcerned with captaincy, and his goal is to perform well for India with bat, ball and in the field.
India were struggling in the second Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at Edgbaston in Birmingham, having lost five wickets for 211 runs on Day 1. However, Jadeja joined Gill, and the duo contributed 203 runs off 279 runs for the sixth wicket.
After the second day of play, Jadeja, 36, was asked if he ever considered becoming India’s Test captain during his remarkable career. The seasoned stalwart smiled as he told reporters at the end of the second day of play, “No, that time is gone now.”
While Jadeja was removed after scoring an impressive 89 runs off 137 deliveries, Gill went on to score a record-breaking 269 runs off 387 balls. On the strength of these knocks, India scored a huge 587 in the first inning.
Jadeja praised Gill and stated that the 25-year-old does not bear the added responsibility of captaincy while batting. The former stated that he believed Gill wouldn’t get out the way he was batting.
“To be honest, he appears extremely confident. In terms of batting, he does not appear to be captain material. He has been given further duty. He is carrying everything with him. I don’t feel anything like it in his batting. Unfortunately, the ball still ended up in his (fielder’s) hands today. But today I didn’t think he’d be out in this inning. He was an excellent player. We discussed partnership while batting together. “That we will have a long partnership and continue to communicate,” Jadeja added.
We will need to take two or three wickets before lunch tomorrow. Ravindra Jadeja
After India was bowled out for 587, England lost two quick wickets as Akash Deep removed Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope in the same over. Mohammed Siraj defeated Zak Crawley, and England dropped to 25/3. Joe Root and Harry Brook teamed together to restore the innings with an unbeaten 52-run combination as England finished at 77/3 at Stumps on Day 2.
Jadeja stated that the Indian squad will focus on taking two to three wickets in the first session on Day 3. He also praised India’s energetic performance on Thursday, June 3.
“We’re not planning too far ahead. We will need to take two to three wickets before lunch tomorrow. If we do so, we will undoubtedly be ahead of the game. The end result could be anything. There have been notable cricket partnerships in the past. We will not take this game lightly. We were experimenting with energy today. Hopefully, we will get a positive outcome in India’s favour,” Jadeja said.
India
