Sport can be extremely cruel at times. A ball or shuttlecock failing to clear the net by a few millimetres, a definite boundary stopped at the last agonising nano-second by a fielder's foot, a diving batter run-out by a few micro-metres, a spinning ball hitting the bat and then bouncing and turning to hit the stumps. If you believe in destiny, then it's fate. If not, it's just plain bad luck.
The Gut Punch
On Sunday, the Indian men's Test cricket team was left to lick its wounds at the home of cricket after they were beaten by a narrow 22-run margin by England. It was another match that India could have won on this tour, after the gut-punch that was the loss at Leeds. It was a match that had boiled down to a two-inning shootout after India ended their first innings on the exact same score (387) as the English, who had batted first. It was evident at this time that batting last on this pitch would be difficult. And when India didn't take a first-innings lead at all, that task became harder. But when England were bowled out for 192, shortly after tea on Day 4, a 193-run target meant that there was still plenty of hope left for the visitors, who were looking to go 2-1 up in the series. However, when the dust settled on things, Mohammed Siraj, the last batter to fall (after a Shoaib Bashir delivery, one he thought he had defended well on the backfoot, spun back to crash into his furniture), was seen on his haunches, head bent low, as the England players celebrated wildly. The 23-run last wicket stand, which frustrated the home team no end and also brought India tantalisingly close to making England take the second new ball and potentially pull off one of the greatest 1-wicket Test wins of all time, had ended.
Running Out Of Partners
At the other end stood a man who has been wearing Test whites for India since December 2012 and who had walked in with India reeling at 71/5, still needing 122 runs after 20.5 overs. At the end of it all, he was undefeated on 61 off 181 balls - his second half-century of the match and the fourth straight one of the series. He had spent almost four-and-a-half hours at the crease and saw as many as five batters fall at the other end.
KL Rahul (39), who had scored another fantastic century in the first innings (100) gave Jadeja company for 18 deliveries, Washington Sundar (0), who failed to open his account in the second innings, stayed with Jadeja for a total of 5 balls, when the scoreboard read 24.4 overs into the innings. Nitish Kumar Reddy (13) promised to give Jadeja - the most experienced player in the Indian team and someone who knows how to soak up pressure - the company he needed, and faced 53 deliveries, but couldn't really help release the pressure and fell in the 40th over (39.3). In other words, as the situation became more and more difficult for India and the pressure continued to mount, Jadeja ran out of proper batting partners in less than 20 overs.
Whom To Blame?
The writing was pretty much on the wall at that time. Though Jasprit Bumrah and Siraj stayed at the crease for a total of 84 deliveries combined, Jadeja alone couldn't have taken India across the finish line. Some might argue that the southpaw could have switched to a T20 gear and tried to knock off the remaining runs, when India were around 8 down, with mostly big hits. But that was a very tough thing to do. Not only was it a very risky move, but hitting the old and soft Duke's ball out of the park was not going to be easy, even for a man who, at one time, was known for his acceleration and finishing skills in white-ball cricket. Some might say Jadeja should have upped the tempo earlier while he was batting with Sundar and then Reddy. But let's face it - he has never been a slogger with the cute shots. With the conditions being what they were at Lord's, is it fair to lay the blame at his doorstep?
If Only...
If Jadeja had got the support he needed at the other end, this could well have been India's win. But then, the foundation of the innings itself was weak, well before Jadeja walked out to bat. With 193 as the target, India went from 40/1 to 71/5 before Jadeja came into bat. And yet, while he was there in the middle, there was hope - a lot of it. He was watchful, playing his trademark textbook shots, no fancy business. He soaked up pressure and calmed our nerves.
His very long shake of the head when Bumrah went after a Ben Stokes short ball (a similar delivery from the England captain, incidentally, also resulted in his dismissal later), which was caught on camera, was another reminder of Jadeja's game awareness. This was not a time to take on the short-pitched stuff, no matter how confident the batter might be. This was a time to continue to chip away at the target, little by little. And that's exactly what he was doing in his 181 deliveries long stay at the crease, before he found himself partner-less at the other end. He could have been India's saviour and almost was, but in the end, it was another instance of so far yet so close for a man who has hands-down been India's premier all-rounder for many years now, something that is backed-up by the statistic of him being the top-ranked ICC men's Test all-rounder for almost three years straight.
Not New For Jadeja
‘History only remembers winners' - a popular adage many swear by. In Jadeja's case, if he had got a little bit more support at the other end, he and Team India would have gone down in the history books as winners at Lord's, and the series scoreline would have read 2-1 to India. But this will not be a new feeling for the 36-year-old, who has played as many as 83 Tests for India so far. In a team sport, not everyone is destined to hog the news headlines, nor does everyone become a ‘star'. Ironic in Jadeja's case, because he bats and bowls and has been India's top gun-fielder for years now. Despite being unbeaten thrice in his six innings so far in this series, with an average of 109 and four straight half-centuries, Ravindra Jadeja might not find himself on every Indian fan's list of standout players on this tour of England. And that in itself is tragic, considering how much this all-rounder, who is almost always one of the first-choice picks in any playing XI, has done for Indian cricket.
There is a certain notion that Jadeja is more of a bowler in the longest format of the game than a batter, as opposed to white-ball cricket, where the team has depended on his batting skills much more. But these days, with the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma having called it a day in Test cricket and Team India going through a massive transition phase, what Jadeja the batter brings to the table is worth its weight in gold. In the second Test of this series, which India won, ‘Jaddu' took just one wicket in the match, but his scores of 89 and 69*, coming in at numbers seven and six respectively, were crucial.
It really is a great sign for India that Jadeja the batter is showing up.
In August 2022, at a press conference during the Asia Cup in Dubai, Jadeja was asked about exactly this - what he felt about him being mainly a bowler in Test whites. His response was trademark Jaddu: “Aap zyada sochte ho, main itna nahi sochta” (you overthink, I don't think about things so much).
Team India need to sort out quite a few things in this week-long break before the fourth Test starts in Manchester on July 23. But, the one thing they don't need to think about at all is what Ravindra Jadeja will bring to the table.
(The author is a former sports editor and primetime sports news anchor. He is currently a columnist, features writer and stage actor.)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
