Ravindra Jadeja scored his first overseas century for India in the crucial moments of the fifth rescheduled Test match against England. His ton helped India achieve a mammoth score of 416 in the first innings.
Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja said that he had moved on from the Indian Premier League 2022 controversy that happened in the month of May.
Ravindra Jadeja Said IPL Was Not On His Mind And Admits Hitting A Ton Outside India Is A Big Achievement
Captaining the Chennai Super Kings for the first time, Ravindra Jadeja’s season turned into one of horror after repeated poor outings as a player and as a captain. Chennai was forced to give the baton of captaincy back to the legendary MS Dhoni, who in a lengthy interview said that the pressure of leadership affected Ravindra Jadeja, despite knowing that he will be captaining the team in 2022.
Ravindra Jadeja played 10 IPL 2022 games before an injury ended his season. In those 10 games, he scored only 116 runs at an average of 19.33 and a strike rate of 118.37. With the ball, he picked up 5 wickets in 10 games. Ravindra Jadeja surprisingly stepped down from his role as the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain with immediate effect after CSK won only 2 games in the 8 matches he captained in IPL 2022.
Speaking at the press conference after the second day of the fifth Test match against England, Ravindra Jadeja said that he had moved on from the incident and his full focus was on playing and performing for India.
“What happened, happened. IPL was not on my mind. Whenever you are playing for India, your entire focus needs to be on the Indian team. It was the same for me, there is no better satisfaction that performing well for India,” he said.
This was Ravindra Jadeja’s first overseas century and it came at a time when India was left in a precarious position after losing five wickets inside the first 100 runs of the game.
“It feels really good to do it outside India, especially in England. To hit a 100 as a player is a really big thing. I can really take some confidence in myself as a player from this, to score a 100 in England especially in swinging conditions, so yeah it feels really good,” he said.
Ravindra Jadeja’s previous highest Test score away from home was 86 not out. Incidentally, that knock had come against England too at The Oval in 2018. The duo of Rishabh Pant (146) and the spin all-rounder added 222 runs for the sixth wicket as India crossed the 300-run mark.
Ravindra Jadeja Praised Jasprit Bumrah For Taking Bating Seriously
After Ravindra Jadeja stabilized the innings with Rishabh Pant, stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah chose to throw caution out of the window and hit Stuart Broad for the most expensive over in the history of Test cricket – for 35 runs. Ravindra Jadeja hailed the tail for adding crucial bonus runs and stated that it was not a fluke.
“Our 9, 10, and 11 do plenty of batting practice. Our team management ensures they work on their batting at practice. It is a nice feeling when the 9,10 and 11 score the runs because it is a bonus for the team. Whenever Bumrah bats in the nets he takes it seriously.It is not like when he bats he has a casual approach, he puts a price on his wicket. The last 40-50 runs he scored along with others is a bonus,” he concluded.
India is in a strong position ahead of the third day of the Test match and would be hoping to skittle England out early in the game. Ravindra Jadeja’s 3rd Test hundred coupled with Jasprit Bumrah’s pyrotechnics with bat and a three-wicket haul with the ball put India in the ascendancy on the second day.
Brief scores: At Stump’s: Day 2:
India 1st innings: 416 all out in 84.5 overs (Rishabh Pant 146, Ravindra Jadeja 104; James Anderson 5/60)
England 1st innings: 84/5 in 27 overs (Joe Root 31; Jasprit Bumrah 3/35).