Cheteshwar Pujara has strongly defended Ravindra Jadeja after the all-rounder’s determined innings at Lord’s came under fire from some of India’s cricket legends. Despite Jadeja’s unbeaten 61 off 181 deliveries, India fell short by 22 runs, handing England a 2-1 lead in the series. While England’s players themselves praised Jadeja’s fighting effort, several former Indian greats, including Anil Kumble, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Sourav Ganguly, felt Jadeja should have attacked more, especially against offspinner Shoaib Bashir.
But Pujara, renowned for his own resilience in Test cricket, disagreed with their assessment.
“𝑯𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒌,” 𝑷𝒖𝒋𝒂𝒓𝒂 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑬𝒙𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔. “𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒇𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒍𝒐𝒘. 𝑱𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒋𝒂 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏, 𝒔𝒐 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒌𝒔.”
“Difficult to Score” on a Sluggish Lord’s Pitch
Pujara explained that with the ball getting softer by the over, even trying to find boundaries down the ground was a challenge. Jadeja preferred taking singles late in each over to shield Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj from facing too many deliveries.
“𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉,” 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅. “𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒈𝒂𝒑 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒊𝒅-𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓.”
Jadeja’s Growth as a Batter Abroad
Highlighting Jadeja’s evolution in recent years, Pujara praised how the all-rounder has sharpened his batting, especially in overseas conditions.
“For the last five years, he has improved a lot,” Pujara noted. “He does extra net sessions even on match days. He has shown clear progress against pace attacks.”
He further explained that Jadeja has learned to convert good starts into significant contributions, something that once held him back at the highest level.
“𝑬𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒓, 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒊𝒈 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒔. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏’𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 300 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕-𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑻𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚,” 𝑷𝒖𝒋𝒂𝒓𝒂 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕.
Pujara, who has played alongside Jadeja for Saurashtra in domestic cricket, was especially impressed by how confidently Jadeja now handles seam bowling in English conditions.
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