Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar questioned Ravindra Jadeja’s approach on day five of the third Test match against England at Lord’s. Jadeja scored an unbeaten knock of 61 runs off 181 balls in the run-chase of 193 but his efforts went in vain as India suffered a heart-breaking 22-run loss.

The left-hander scored his runs at a strike rate of 33.70 and Manjrekar reckons Jadeja could have been a tad more aggressive in his batting approach. 

Towards the end, Jadeja was taking a single on every fourth ball of an over and gave two balls to Mohammed Siraj to survive. Siraj showed resistance with the bat as he played out 30 balls but the tailender was dismissed when the ball crawled back to his stumps despite him middling the ball against Shoaib Bashir.

Sanjay Manjrekar said on ESPN Cricinfo, “Jadeja was defending really well, but it must be remembered that India were not playing for a draw. So, it seems like England were not put under pressure. If there was someone like Ben Stokes, who could take chances in between defending, then England team may have been under pressure and that could have forced them to commit some mistakes.

“Nitish Kumar Reddy and Ravindra Jadeja batted together for a long time, but only added 30 runs. It was not easy, but India’s mindset during the Test match was as if they were playing for a draw. The waiting game went on too long,” the 60-year-old added.

Meanwhile, Jadeja has scored four consecutive half-centuries in the last four innings and he has delivered with the bat on England tour. Whether he could have adopted a more aggressive approach on Monday, is debatable. 

The fourth Test match between England and India will be played at Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester, from July 23 onwards.