‘We have to expect more from Jadeja’ – Sanjay Manjrekar finds spinner’s performance disappointing in Headingley Test

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar criticised veteran spinner Ravindra Jadeja for his below-par performance in the opening Test against England at Headingley, Leeds. India lost the match by five wickets, with Jadeja managing to take only one wicket, which came in the second innings.

Manjrekar acknowledged that the Indian seamers lacked significant movement. He also conceded that Ben Duckett played exceptionally well against star pacer Jasprit Bumrah. With two frontline bowlers struggling, Manjrekar noted that the English team was able to capitalise and comfortably secure the victory.

“Funnily enough, the pitch didn’t offer any lateral movement to India’s seam bowlers. Even Bumrah couldn’t get anything out of the pitch. Nothing in the air as well. Plus, the fact that Ben Duckett is tremendous against Bumrah and has one of the best records against him and against Jadeja,” Manjrekar said on Star Sports.

“I don’t think he’s got out to Jadeja ever, and he’s played Jadeja at home as well. So when you have an English batter who is very good against two of your frontline bowlers, then you’re set for a win,” he said.

Manjrekar stated that young pacer Prasidh Krishna should not be harshly judged despite conceding runs at an economy rate of over six. However, he stressed that Jadeja, given his experience, needed to step up and added that the left-arm spinner did not make enough use of the pitch conditions, which offered some assistance.

“See, it’s not fair to be critical of the younger players like Prasidh Krishna. There are obvious areas of improvement, but I’m going to be critical of Jadeja because this is a final-day pitch. There’s a rough for him to play with. And in the end, I know there were a couple of chances there, but we have to expect more from Jadeja. These are not typical English conditions. This is not where the pitch has nothing to offer,” Manjrekar conceded.

“I thought he didn’t use the rough enough against Ben Stokes. He did, but against Ben Duckett very late in the day, in the innings, he came and started using the rough from experienced bowlers, experienced batsmen, you expect more. And somewhere, I think Jadeja was disappointing because the seamers had nothing on the pitch for them. But at least Jadeja has something,” he concluded.