Cheteshwar Pujara defends Ravindra Jadeja, says he could have looked to score down the ground in Lord’s Test

India’s solid batter Cheteshwar Pujara has put his weight behind Ravindra Jadeja after Shubman Gill’s team suffered a heartbreaking loss of 22 runs at Lord’s. Jadeja scored a fighting knock of 61 runs off 181 balls, but his efforts went in vain after Mohammed Siraj was dismissed by Shoaib Bashir.

Pujara reckons Jadeja adopted the right approach as it is not easy to hit the big shots against the soft ball. The former Indian number three believes Jadeja could have looked to score down the ground, around the cover and mid-off region.

Pujara said via the Indian Express, “The only thing he could have done better is to look to score down the ground. Like there was a gap between mid-off and cover. He couldn’t have scored faster on that track. I felt that it was because the ball was soft, and the pitch was on the slower side. I guess, Jadeja would have thought that the tailenders were batting well and the team was getting close to the total.”

“And once they were a little closer, he would have taken his chances. I thought he was batting well. It was very difficult to score runs on that pitch.”

Pujara noted that earlier, Jadeja lacked a bit of strength against the seamers, which is not the case now.

“He is now able to face seamers and spinners equally well. Earlier, he was a good player of spin but lacked a little bit of strength against seamers, which is not the case now. Earlier, it was the case of him not converting his good starts to big scores at the highest level. See, one can’t get 300 in first-class cricket without skills. But you need to convert, like you do at first-class level, at international level,” said Pujara.

The fourth Test match between England and India will be played at Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester, from July 23 onwards.