New Delhi [India] June 25 : Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has come out in support of India's seamers following team's five-wicket defeat to England in the first Test at Leeds but did not hold back when it came to assessing Ravindra Jadeja's performance.
While India's pacers toiled without much assistance from the surface, Manjrekar felt Jadeja missed a real opportunity to make a bigger impact, especially on the Day 5 pitch that could have offered help through the rough.
"It's not fair to be overly critical of younger players like Prasidh Krishna there are obvious areas for improvement," Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar said on the show 'Match Centre Live' in JioHotstar.
"I am going to be critical of Ravindra Jadeja. This was a final-day pitch with rough patches for him to exploit. And while there were a couple of chances, we have to expect more from someone of his experience," he added.
Jadeja, India's lead spinner in the absence of Ravichandran Ashwin, struggled to create pressure through long spells and failed to extract consistent turn despite visible rough outside the left-hander's off stump. He ended the match with just one wicket, that of England captain Ben Stokes, finishing with figures of 1/104 in 24 overs in the second innings. He remained wicketless in the first innings.
"These weren't typical English conditions where the pitch offers nothing," Manjrekar continued.
"I felt he didn't use the rough nearly enough especially against Ben Duckett. Against Ben Stokes, yes, he did make an effort. But it was only much later in Duckett's innings that Jadeja started using the rough properly. When you're dealing with experienced bowlers and seasoned batters, you expect a higher level of tactical awareness. Somewhere, I felt Jadeja was disappointing," he said.
"The seamers had no help from the surface but Jadeja at least had something in the pitch working in his favour," he added.
The left-arm spinner did produce a few quality deliveries.
The final day saw England produce a successful run chase. Led by Ben Duckett's impressive 149 and key contributions from Zak Crawley, Joe Root and Jamie Smith, the hosts reached the target in 82 overs, finishing at 373/5 to clinch a five-wicket win.
India now trail 0-1 in the five-match Test series. With the series wide open and the next Test offering a different surface and conditions, the spotlight will remain on Jadeja to lift his game.
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