Latest news with #WisdenCricketWeeklyPodcast
Indian Express
9 hours ago
- Sport
- Indian Express
‘Jadeja can't be effective in England': India must be willing to lose matches and change spin mindset, says Brad Haddin
Former Australia wicket-keeper Brad Haddin questioned the role of Ravindra Jadeja as the lead spinner in India's Test line-up in England after his underwhelming performance in the first Test defeat at Headingley earlier this week. With wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav sitting out, Jadeja played as the sole spin option and was marked to play a key holding role against the Englishmen. However, Jadeja failed to induce any pressure until late on day five when the ball occasionally spun from the footholes. As England gunned down 350 of the 371-run target on the final day, the 36-year-old left-arm spinner conceded 104 runs in 24 overs at 4.33 for a solitary wicket. Haddin reckoned that the declining all-rounder was not India's most effective spin option in the conditions and said Jadeja could, at best, play a supporting role as the second spinner abroad. 'Are we seeing the decline of Ravindra Jadeja? I mean yes, he is effective in Indian conditions and how hard it is to play left-arm spin in India, but I don't think he is the best option to have in the team spin wise,' Haddin said on the Willow Talk podcast. With veteran Ashwin retired and Jadeja's overseas performances on the wane, Haddin said India must be look at more attacking tweakers and be willing to sacrifice a few matches to unearth new heroes. 'I don't think Jadeja can be effective. Yes, he is good all-rounder and he could play as a second spinner – hold at the other end. But I think they need to be more attacking, be willing to lose a Test match with some inexperienced bowlers but change their mindset at the way they go about it,' Haddin added. Haddin also suggested that India must rope in left arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav into the XI alongside Nitish Kumar Reddy to reduce the impact of benching Jadeja. 'I would look at Kuldeep. Someone who is an attacking spinner, who can get wickets. You've got a couple of hold-in bowlers. Siraj can play that role, but I think they need to be a bit more bold in their selection of bowlers,' he said. 'If Reddy plays, then you don't have to play Jadeja and bring the attacking spin option. I think that's one thing they've got to look at, especially away from home,' he added. Former England batter Mark Butcher had lambasted Jadeja's bowling after the first Test. 'I could not believe how poorly Jadeja bowled, really,' said Mark Butcher on the Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast. 'I'd likened it to owning a hammer but punching nails in with your fist instead – not landing the ball in the rough at all until, basically, it was too late. That was extraordinary, really. 'You talk about experience, and Jadeja has all the experience in the world. Somehow, it didn't seem to click to him or Rishabh Pant, the keeper, that it might be a good idea not to keep missing the rough all day to the left-handers,' he added after Jadeja's match figures read 47 overs, 172 runs and one wicket.
Hindustan Times
10 hours ago
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
India need to start counting on the Kuldeep factor
Kolkata: Just over a year ago, 83 of 98 English wickets to fall were taken by Jasprit Bumrah, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav during a five-match home series. Off-spinner Ashwin averaged 24.8 runs per wicket and struck every 36.1 balls, left-arm spinner Jadeja averaged 25.05 and 46.2. Left arm wrist spinner Yadav? 20.15 and 36, numbers that were only bettered by Bumrah. If playing on the psychological pivot of recency was a game, India certainly lost that one when they announced the team for the Leeds Test. India's left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav during practice at the Headingley ground. (Reuters) Take out the last two sessions and India were effectively playing with two proper bowlers in Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj, Prasidh Krishna struggling with his length all the while as Jadeja was repeatedly being given the 'reverse' treatment by Ben Duckett. Barring Ollie Pope, England's top-order has always been edgy against proper spin bowling. Jadeja, anyway, is generally reliant on the surface and even he didn't exploit the rough outside the popping crease for a long time, something that hasn't gone unnoticed. 'You talk about experience, and he (Jadeja) has all the experience in the world,' former England cricketer Mark Butcher was quoted as saying on the Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast. 'Somehow, it didn't seem to click with him or Rishabh Pant, the keeper, that it might be a good idea not to keep missing the rough all day to the left-handers.' Maybe Jadeja wasn't on top of his game but India too weren't brave with their team selection. And that has been a recurring problem with India's overseas tours—bravery has somehow grown to be associated with taking the right call, as if there would be any less flak if they took the wrong one. It was the sort of 'dilemma' Rahul Dravid had faced in the fifth and final Test against England in Dharamsala last year, till he took the call anyway. 'It was the braver option (to pick Kuldeep) and yes, we had to take a call there, and I'm really glad we were brave,' he had said after the match. 'We went with the braver option when we decided to back the fact that we knew we needed 20 wickets to win the series, and trust our batsmen to do the job when required, and I think that's paid off.' A little context here. Like on this tour, in 2024 too Yadav hadn't started in the first Test at Hyderabad. England won it by 28 runs. He featured in each of the three subsequent Tests though, India winning all three handsomely. Since Dharamsala offers a pitch most favourable pitch to seamers, there is always the temptation to go with the one less spinner but India stuck to Siraj-Bumrah, alongwith Ashwin, Jadeja and Yadav. That game was won by an innings and 64 runs. Yadav returned seven wickets in that match, including 5/72 in the first innings when the pitch was doing nothing for the spinners. He bowled 15 overs non-stop from one end and kept chipping away at England, reducing them to 175/4 from 64/1 till they were 218 all out. He then followed it up with a 69-ball 30, stitched a 49-run ninth-wicket partnership with Bumrah and helped India garner a 250-run plus first innings lead. There was no coming back from there for England. Two valuable lessons should have been learnt that day. First, Yadav doesn't need any conditional advantage to be successful as a bowler. He has taken some facets of his white-ball bowling and incorporated it in accordance with the demands of the longest format. Stupendous control of his bowling trajectory is one of those things that he has mastered with time. He can be a bundle of nerves, but Yadav is also an extremely skillful bowler capable of squeezing out a wicket with the smallest of variations. When you pit all this against the monotony with which England try to play spin (reverse sweeping almost all the time), it's hard to justify not including Yadav. Secondly, Yadav is no muppet with the bat. For all the talk of sacrificing a bowler for the sake of adding depth to the batting, India know how that plan worked at Leeds. Even if Jadeja was trying to put together some runs in the second innings, he didn't get any support from the lower order. Adding Yadav could have bucked that trend, apart from obviously boosting India's wicket-taking ability against an England batting that was willing to be patient against good bowling. India are deep into a transition that doesn't only mean a change of personnel but also a change of outlook. For nearly a decade, India took for granted the batting returns of Ashwin and Jadeja at home while sacrificing Ashwin the allrounder away from home. Throughout this time, Yadav hovered on the fringes. He made his debut eight years ago, but has played just 13 Tests. Twice he has been the Man-of-the-Match, only to be dropped from the next Test. Ashwin has retired, Jadeja isn't as challenging a bowler in non-Asian countries, and Axar Patel is still considered only for home series. Any change of guard must involve giving Kuldeep Yadav a wide berth, for no other spinner deserves this more than him.
NDTV
2 days ago
- Sport
- NDTV
"How Poorly He Bowled": Ex-England Star's Brutally Honest Take On Ravindra Jadeja's Performance
Former England cricketer Mark Butcher criticised Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja for his poor bowling utilisation of the rough during the first Test at Leeds against England, calling it "owning a hammer but punching nails in with your fist", reported Wisden Cricket Weekly. The new-look Team India failed to chase 371 runs during the Leeds Test against England, with opener Ben Duckett's swashbuckling 149 and watchful Joe Root's fifty contributing big to the team's win. During the second innings, Jadeja took 1/104 in 24 overs, getting the over of skipper Ben Stokes. However, England, particularly Duckett, neutralised Jadeja's threat very well, using the reverse sweep to their advantage. Speaking on the Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast, Butcher said about Jadeja, "I could not believe how poorly he bowled. I would liken it to owning a hammer but punching nails in with your fist instead - not landing the ball in the rough at all until, basically, it was too late. That was extraordinary." "You talk about experience, and he has all the experience in the world. Somehow, it didn't seem to click to him or Rishabh Pant, the keeper, that it might be a good idea not to keep missing the rough all day to the left-handers," he added. Butcher also slammed Team India's selection, particularly of bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur, as one of the reasons why they looked ineffective, and they could have gone for spinner Kuldeep Yadav. Shardul could not get into double digits while batting and took a total of two wickets across the match, leaking runs at a high economy rate. "The issue around the lineup itself... how much more interesting might that last day have been had they gone for Kuldeep Yadav instead of Shardul Thakur. Thakur had had a really poor game until that one over where he gave India a tiny sniff at the back-end," he said. "If you are not contributing with the bat down there at No.8, you damn well be taking wickets, and be in the game as a bowler for more of the game than he was," he concluded. Coming to the match, India was put to bat first by England. Centuries from Yashasvi Jaiswal (101), skipper Shubman Gill (147) and Rishabh Pant (134) pushed India to 471, with Ben Stokes being the leading bowler with figures of 4/66. England also delivered a fine reply with the bat, as a century from Ollie Pope (106) and fifties from Harry Brook (99) and Ben Duckett (62) pushed them to 465, giving India a slender six-run lead. Jasprit Bumrah did take a fifer, but did not get a lot of support from other bowlers. India took a strong lead in the second innings, with centuries from KL Rahul (137) and Pant (118) taking them to 364. India led by 370 runs, but it was a lower-order collapse that prevented the lead from being even more massive. Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue took three wickets to stand out among bowlers. In the chase of 371 runs, England started off well with a 188-run stand between Zak Crawley (65) and Duckett (149). However, a few quick strikes reduced them to 253/4, placing India in a balanced spot. However, Joe Root (53*) and Jamie Smith (44*) took England home, despite two wickets each from Prasidh Krishna and Thakur. Duckett took home the 'Player of the Match' award.
India Today
2 days ago
- Sport
- India Today
Could not believe how poorly Ravindra Jadeja bowled at Headingley: Ex-England batter
Mark Butcher said that he was baffled by Ravindra Jadeja's performance in the first Test against England as India lost the game. Jadeja, the only spinner that was used by India in the game, failed to make an impact with the ball and conceded 178 runs over the course of both innings. The left-arm spinner's performance on the final day caught the eye of the pundits, with Sanjay Manjrekar being critical of his tactical ineptness and not bowling on the rough patches. Buther, while talking on the Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast, said that he could not believe how poorly Jadeja bowled and said it was like owning a hammer and using your fist to punch in nails. The former England cricketer also pointed to the fact that the veteran spinner didn't look to land the ball on the rough until it was too late. advertisement"'I could not believe how poorly he bowled, really. I'd likened it to owning a hammer but punching nails in with your fist instead – not landing the ball in the rough at all until, basically, it was too late. That was extraordinary, really," said Butcher. Butcher said that for some reason it didn't click to either Jadeja or Rishabh Pant it would have been a good idea to try the rough patches to the left-handers. 'You talk about experience, and he has all the experience in the world. Somehow, it didn't seem to click to him or Rishabh Pant, the keeper, that it might be a good idea not to keep missing the rough all day to the left-handers," said Butcher. Jadeja's recent struggles in Test cricketSince the conclusion of the New Zealand series at home, Jadeja has endured a tough period in Test cricket. In the four matches he has played since then, Jadeja has picked up just five wickets. Being picked in the side as a lone spinner due to his batting ability, the veteran star is yet to cross the 30-run mark in his last six innings. The popr bowling performances have seen Jadeja drop out of the top 10 bowlers list in the ICC Rankings. India and England will square off in the second Test from July 2. - EndsMust Watch
India Gazette
2 days ago
- Sport
- India Gazette
"Would liken it to owning a hammer but punching nails...": Butcher slams Jadeja's bowling at Leeds
London [UK], June 26 (ANI): Former England cricketer Mark Butcher criticised Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja for his poor bowling utilisation of the rough during the first Test at Leeds against England, calling it 'owning a hammer but punching nails in with your fist', reported Wisden Cricket Weekly. The new-look Team India failed to chase 371 runs during the Leeds Test against England, with opener Ben Duckett's swashbuckling 149 and watchful Joe Root's fifty contributing big to the team's win. During the second innings, Jadeja took 1/104 in 24 overs, getting the over of skipper Ben Stokes. However, England, particularly Duckett, neutralised Jadeja's threat very well, using the reverse sweep to their advantage. Speaking on the Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast, Butcher said about Jadeja, 'I could not believe how poorly he bowled. I would liken it to owning a hammer but punching nails in with your fist instead - not landing the ball in the rough at all until, basically, it was too late. That was extraordinary.' 'You talk about experience, and he has all the experience in the world. Somehow, it didn't seem to click to him or Rishabh Pant, the keeper, that it might be a good idea not to keep missing the rough all day to the left-handers,' he added. Butcher also slammed Team India's selection, particularly of bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur, as one of the reasons why they looked ineffective, and they could have gone for spinner Kuldeep Yadav. Shardul could not get into double digits while batting and took a total of two wickets across the match, leaking runs at a high economy rate. 'The issue around the lineup itself... how much more interesting might that last day have been had they gone for Kuldeep Yadav instead of Shardul Thakur. Thakur had had a really poor game until that one over where he gave India a tiny sniff at the back-end,' he said. 'If you are not contributing with the bat down there at No.8, you damn well be taking wickets, and be in the game as a bowler for more of the game than he was,' he concluded. Coming to the match, India was put to bat first by England. Centuries from Yashasvi Jaiswal (101), skipper Shubman Gill (147) and Rishabh Pant (134) pushed India to 471, with Ben Stokes being the leading bowler with figures of 4/66. England also delivered a fine reply with the bat, as a century from Ollie Pope (106) and fifties from Harry Brook (99) and Ben Duckett (62) pushed them to 465, giving India a slender six-run lead. Jasprit Bumrah did take a fifer, but did not get a lot of support from other bowlers. India took a strong lead in the second innings, with centuries from KL Rahul (137) and Pant (118) taking them to 364. India led by 370 runs, but it was a lower-order collapse that prevented the lead from being even more massive. Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue took three wickets to stand out among bowlers. In the chase of 371 runs, England started off well with a 188-run stand between Zak Crawley (65) and Duckett (149). However, a few quick strikes reduced them to 253/4, placing India in a balanced spot. However, Joe Root (53*) and Jamie Smith (44*) took England home, despite two wickets each from Prasidh Krishna and Thakur. Duckett took home the 'Player of the Match' award. (ANI)
