Murali Kartik lauds Ravindra Jadeja’s mindset amid 5th Test against England

Former Indian spinner Murali Karthik has showered praise on Ravindra Jadeja for scoring consistently despite batting in the lower order. Jadeja scored another valuable knock of 53 runs off 77 balls in the second innings against England at Kennington Oval.

Batting at number seven, Jadeja continued his rich form in the series. Jadeja scored 516 runs in five Test matches at an average of 86 in the Anderson-Tendulkar series.

Jadeja added two crucial alliances with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurel to strengthen India’s lead in the second innings.

Kartik said Jadeja’s mindset has helped him reap rewards as a batter as he has been consistently performing in the red-ball version in the last few years.

Murali Kartik said on Cricbuzz, “Sometimes what happens is that your mindset adapts to where you bat. I can tell you from personal experience, this really happens. When you bat at number 8 or 9, and a tailender or lower-order batter comes in, your thinking shifts. You start wondering whether to protect him or score runs yourself. That often creates confusion, and your thought process, your batting template, or your game plan gets disrupted.”

“But if you look at the past three, four, or even five years, the way Ravindra Jadeja has changed his mindset is remarkable. He now thinks like a proper batter, even when he bats lower down the order. And he performs as one because he has the technique and the ability. He knows how to play spin and how to face pace. You can play him anywhere, and he will bat. And this series has shown again and again that even on difficult pitches, he can play late, he can play aggressively when needed. He now understands how to manage the strike when batting with the lower order, something he has mastered over the last four or five years,” he added.

On the other hand, former left-arm orthodox spinner also showered praise on Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored an impressive knock of 118 runs. Jaiswal scored 411 runs in five Test matches against England.

Kartik said, “He (YJ) is a young opener whom we have seen perform really well, and he has an incredible backstory. The hard work he put in to play for India is clearly visible. And if you talk about Yashasvi Jaiswal, who for me is the Performer of the Day, his century was very important. The way he batted, look, dropped catches, falling wickets, wrong decisions, all these things happen to everyone. It’s part of the game; you can’t fight it, and it’s not the batsman’s fault.”

“But the way he batted, especially when India needed it the most, when an opener had to be attacking while also playing a long innings on this pitch, you have to say that Yashasvi Jaiswal fulfilled that role brilliantly. And one more thing to remember is that, in between, everyone was saying that he had a couple of poor innings. He even got out for a duck. But he started with a century and ended with a century. A great beginning and a great ending, and we hope that this century he has scored leads India towards victory,” he added.

India would hunt for eight more wickets on the fourth day’s play.