Since India's devastating defeat to England at Lord's, it has been over a week. The fourth chapter of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, which will take place at Manchester's Old Trafford, is now set, but everyone's thoughts are still on what transpired in London eight days earlier, when India, despite their valiant effort, lost by 22 runs as the ball, which was struck by Mohammed Siraj, slowly rolled onto the stumps. The fact that India's total rose to 172 after being down at 112/8—at a point when it appeared that the game would end inside the first session—is a testament to the fight displayed by their lower order, which includes Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Siraj.

Jadeja sewed together key alliances while holding up one end—35 with Nitish Reddy, 30 with Jasprit Bumrah, and 23 more with Siraj—to, at one point, increase hopes of an Indian victory, which appeared improbable just a few hours earlier. Jadeja remained undefeated on 61 runs from 181 balls, but the India all-rounder's innings split people's opinions despite his best attempts. Although Jadeja wisely shifted the strike, giving his tail-end partners the fourth and fifth balls of the over, some, including Ravi Shastri, thought he could have been more aggressive.

Shastri was outspoken about it when the field was up, repeatedly encouraging Jadeja to go after the bowling, particularly against Shoaib Bashir and Joe Root, as he stated on the air. However, Jadeja chose the safer option, which Shastri believes might have been avoided.

"When Nitish Reddy and Jadeja were batting, I thought it was before lunch." One of the two should have tried it. Because the field was open. The ball was a bit tougher. You could tell there would be one delivery with your name on it as soon as it became soft. On The Overlap Podcast, Shastri said that at some point they could have taken more risks and reduced that gap to around 40 before playing the way they did.

Ben Stokes vs. Ravindra Jadeja

Jadeja's performance was reminiscent of the amazing inning that England captain Ben Stokes produced against Australia at Headingley in the 2019 Ashes. Stokes almost single-handedly led England to victory by switching to beast mode, hitting the Australian bowlers, and scoring 101 runs with the final three wickets before remaining not out at 135. Although Jadeja is not as powerful a hitter of the ball as Stokes, Shastri noted that he would have been an even more significant match winner for India if he had more confidence in his bat.

"You'll win more matches if Jadeja has at least 40% of Stokes' conviction. Because his talent is obvious. It's simply that he needs to step up and take command. He has the ability to seize control if he thinks he can. In First-Class cricket, he has three triple-hundreds. He spent a lot of time doing it. Just three. The former head coach of India further said that it took him a long time to understand that he had the potential for hitting.

Read Also: Ben Stokes Slams ICC Over Slow Over-Rate Penalty in Asia

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