Ravindra Jadeja criticized after India's close loss in third Test against England at Lord's

India lost by 22 runs despite Ravindra Jadeja’s fighting fifty

India came with a good momentum in the 3rd test as they won the previous match convincingly, and the Comeback of Jasprit Bumrah in the bowling line-up made India more confident in this match. Shubman Gill lost the toss and his team was asked to bowl first. English openers looked well set, but they were dismissed by Nitish Reddy in his first over, which was a master stroke played by captain Shubman Gill, but once again, the Man who is known as India's nightmare, Joe Root, walked in and once again scored a hundred at the Lord's.

Jasprit Bumrah dismissed Joe Root once again, but the damage was already done by him. India also feared an injury concern to wicket keeper Rishabh Pant as he was hit on his finger during the match, and stand-in Keeper Dhruv Jurel was keeping for India in this match. Dhruv Jurel also took a brilliant catch of Ollie Pope, but India also conceded 31 extra runs in their first bowling innings. 

After the English innings, it was now time for India to bat and get close to the total of 387. India had an in-form batting line-up, but Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill missed out in this innings. KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant together brought India back in the game. Just when everyone thought India was getting ahead of England, Ben Stokes produced a brilliant run out to dismiss well-set Rishabh Pant, which is also considered the turning point by many cricket experts. But somehow India equalled the score of England, kudos to Jadeja's fifty.

Indian Bowlers dominated the English batter throughout their second innings and dismissed the whole team for just 192 runs. Washington Sundar with 4 wickets and Bumrah made sure to dismiss the tail quickly with his 2 wickets. 

India now had a decent total to chase, but surprisingly, England fought back stronger, led by none other than their skipper Ben Stokes. India lost 4 wickets on day 4, which set the tone for an interesting finish on the 5th day. KL Rahul looked calm and composed, but he was dismissed by Ben Stokes, and after that, Rishabh Pant, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Washington Sundar lost their wickets cheaply as well. Ravindra Jadeja was running out of partners now, but he made sure India didn't lose easily and fought till the end. His Partnership with Bumrah and Siraj was a lifesaver for India, and just when everyone thought India would win this match, the Englishmen got the wicket of Siraj, and Jadeja was left devastated at the other end.

Pakistani Cricket Experts Criticize Jadeja's Approach in the Crucial Final Phase

The cricket world is divided into two different opinions; some are supporting Jadeja, while others are criticizing his approach. Ravindra Jadeja, who scored 61*off 181 balls, failed to make India cross the finishing line as he found himself alone in this chase after he ran out of partners. Jaddu gained a lot of respect and appreciation from the whole cricket fraternity. But Pakistani experts have some other opinions about it. They think that Ravindra Jadeja should have played more aggressively and tried to finish the game with boundaries rather than taking the game deep as Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj did their jobs to hold their wicket and it was Jadeja's responsibility to score the runs but he played a lower strike which costed India this match as per the opinion of Pakistani Experts.

Kamran Akmal and Basit Ali Criticize Jadeja's Strategy in the Final Phase 

Former Pakistani cricketer Basit Ali criticised Ravindra Jadeja's approach on the YouTube show ‘ The Game Plan’. He said that Ravindra Jadeja should have played with a better approach as he should have tried to get boundaries on the last two balls of the over, and also said that Jadeja should learn from Javed Miandad on how to bat with the tail. Were the fielders outside the circle? If yes, then there isn't much he could have done. However, Javed Miandad once said that when you are batting with the tail and the field comes up, go for boundaries on the two balls of the over. Bumrah and Siraj were doing a good job, and he was farming strike and trusting them enough to make them face 2-3 balls every over. So if he was confident of them hanging around, he should have gone after boundaries. He should have listened to Miandad”. Basit also added, “Yeh uska pehla test tha kya? If not, then he should have done better with that amount of experience; he should have gone for boundaries on the last two balls of every over “. 

Another former Pakistani cricketer, Kamran Akmal, also criticised Ravindra Jadeja's approach in the final phase. He felt that Jadeja should have taken more chances against spinners Shoaib Basheer and Joe Root, tried to smash a few sixes against them, but did not do that and let them go so easily. Akmal said, “Jadeja should have taken a few more chances when Shoaib Basheer and Joe Root were bowling, he just left it. They were fighting the ball, but Jadeja did not charge. He should have struck a few sixes down the ground at least. Slog sweeps went missing, too. Had he shown a little bit of courage, he could have taken India to a win. When Ben Stokes won that game against Australia in the Ashes, I felt he was about to do the same”.