ENG vs IND: "He couldn't have..."- Cheteshwar Pujara defends Ravindra Jadeja amid criticism for his batting approach at Lord's

Ravindra Jadeja scored an unbeaten 61 runs in the second innings of the Lord’s test.

India test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara has defended Ravindra Jadeja amid criticisms from former Indian players. The England Cricket Team defeated the Indian Cricket Team by 22 runs in the third test of a five-match series at the Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. India were bowled out for 170 runs in the pursuit of 193 runs for victory.

Ravindra Jadeja showed a wonderful fightback in the match, scoring an unbeaten 61 runs in the second innings after the team lost early wickets. However, England managed to dismiss the other batters to win the encounter. Many experts and cricket fans lauded Jadeja for his marvellous show in the encounter.

However, some former Indian legends like Sourav Ganguly, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Ashwin, and Anil Kumble said that Jadeja should have scored faster in the second innings. They also added that the all-rounder should have targeted spinner Shoaib Bashir.

He couldn’t have scored faster on that track -Cheteshwar Pujara defends Ravindra Jadeja

Amid all this, Pujara has defended Jadeja from criticism and said that the latter couldn’t have scored faster on that pitch.

“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”, he was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.

“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.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 further said.

Pujara also added that Jadeja has shown a lot of improvement in tests in overseas conditions.

“For the last five years, he has improved, especially abroad. He has been working hard. If you notice, even on the match day, he does his net practice. He has shown improvement when playing pace,” he added.

Meanwhile, after the victory in the Lord’s test, England lead the five-match series 2-1. Earlier, they won the first test by five wickets and lost the second test by 336 runs. Now, both teams will clash in the fourth test at Old Trafford, Manchester. The encounter will begin from July 23.

England will aim for a series victory in the fourth test. On the other hand, India will aim to script history as they have never defeated England in a test match in Manchester.

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