The reason why Dhoni was standing back during Jadeja over

[StriKe]

Ravindra Jadeja walked in on the fourth Day of the Lord’s Test with India on 203 for 6, after the wickets of MS Dhoni and Stuart Binny in quick succession. India’s lead was only 179 with hardly any batting to follow. Any other batsman would have looked to settle in, buckle down and steady the innings. But Jadeja had other plans. After scores of 25, 31 and 3 in the series until then, the all-rounder was determined to make a telling contribution with the bat. And he not only chose the right moment but a totally unorthodox way to do it. He hit his way through it and smashed a 57-ball 68 with nine fours. Along with an in-form, solid and confident Bhuvneshwar Kumar (52), Jadeja added 99 runs for the eighth wicket and India set England 319 to win. Jadeja was in action soon, coming on to bowl in the seventh over, and got the wicket of Sam Robson off his first ball. It was his day, and he made the most of it. After the day, Jadeja spoke to BCCI.TV about the riveting day and discussed some unorthodox strategies that were evident on the field. He told us why MS Dhoni stood back to him and explained the meaning of his innovative celebration after getting his fifty. You went in to bat when the team was in trouble. Yet you went for shots straight away. Reason? Yesterday when I went back to the hotel in the evening I was thinking about my batting so far. I started thinking how I was going to play today and decided that the best way for me is to play my game. If I play any differently I won’t get runs. So I decided that irrespective of the situation I will back myself and go for my shots. That’s the only way I can score runs. When I went in to bat, the team also needed runs. Bhuvi was so solid from the other end. Did that ease the pressure off you? The good thing about our partnership was that both of us were scoring runs fluently and so we didn’t let them build pressure from one end. Bhuvi is in very good form and all his four innings so far have been very important for the team and personally for him. We hope that he continues to score runs throughout the series. Having batted with the tail quite a bit now, do you think there has been a vast improvement in the tailenders’ batting? That’s right. Our bowling coach always encourages our pacers to go and have a batting session in the nets. He makes them face throw-downs for 30-40 minutes each. Duncan Fletcher keeps telling us that the runs scored by No. 9, 10 and 11 are very important in all the formats, and we have seen it so far in this series. What was the meaning of the celebration? MS was doing the same in dressing room. It has got to do with a tradition that we have among the Rajpoots. During festivals and special occasions, we have professional sword-fighters perform with a sword in each hand, moving them in that fashion. It’s called ‘talwaar baazi’. I only had one bat with me so I did it with one hand. I wanted to have a different celebration and so I had decided whenever I get a fifty, I will do that. MS bhai must have seen it and realized what I was doing. So, he was mimicking me. While bowling, you changed your end a couple of times. What was the reason behind that? I just wanted to try out the two ends and see from where I got more purchase off the pitch. When Vijay came on to bowl, we wanted him to bowl from the nursery end so he could get the ball to pitch on rough marks against the left-handers and I could do the same from the other end. You came on to bowl in seventh over. That’s something you do only in the subcontinent. When I was batting I had the feeling that I would be asked to bowl pretty early. Being a left-hander myself, I knew exactly how the footmarks were affecting me and that’s when I started to make my bowling plans. Why was MS Dhoni standing back to you? It was because of the foot marks, it was very difficult for the left-hander, as the odd ball was taking off, a few kept low and some turned square. We thought it would be a good idea for the keeper to stand back because in case there was a nick, it would be an easy catch for him standing back. And that’s exactly what happened in the second last over but then MS was standing up to the stumps. What was the target the team had in mind? We didn’t have a particular number in mind initially but as the day progressed and we saw how the wicket was behaving, we thought anywhere between 250-280 would be a good target to put up a fight. The ball was bouncing awkwardly and spinning enormously and we knew the footmarks would be handy against their six left-handers.

http://www.bcci.tv/news/2014/features-and-interviews/8359/jadejas-day-out

[BlueBee]

Yep, That would've been a catch had he stood back. It nicked the back of the bat

[GautiMaan]

Anyone knows why Bhogle was whinging about the celebration on air,ruined the whole thing.

[vvvslaxman]

He could have had a finer leg gully and conentional leg gully. you can have 2 behind the stumps.How will he effect stumpings standing there.

[CoverDrive]

in this case batsmen should just bat two paces out of the crease and negate the footmarks.

[SLICKR392]

Dhoni was appealing for that catch, so he did alright to hold on to it but Kohli could have had a better chance to grab on to it in the 2nd chance.

[Straight Drive]

Dhoni would be standing about 15 feet behind had he been keeping to Kumble on rank turners. On a serious note, i think it was to negate the extreme uneven bounce (low as well as high). Stumpings will be missed but i doubt English batters would be moving out of the crease given the situation they were in. The pace and bounce Jaddu was getting, the ball would easily have carried to Dhoni standing back. I doubt he would stand back to Ashwin or other bowler who bowls slower in air than Jaddu does.

[Lord]

Dhoni standing back is still okay if that was the reason but what about short leg,leg slip etc.He missed 2-3 wickets there

[Straight Drive]

Dhoni standing back is still okay if that was the reason but what about short leg' date='leg slip etc.He missed 2-3 wickets there[/quote'] Short leg and silly point have to be there as Dhoni anticipated high bounce. Bowlers like Harby etc who get good bounce on a wicket, have often got bat and pad catches. Did Dhoni not have those fielders ?

[Lord]

Short leg and silly point have to be there as Dhoni anticipated high bounce. Bowlers like Harby etc who get good bounce on a wicket' date=' have often got bat and pad catches. Did Dhoni not have those fielders ?[/quote'] No,they were also standing 2 feet behind their normal positions.Jaddu got bounce and many inside edges but expectedly they fell short of these fielders.Would have carried easily if they were in normal positions

[rkt.india]

Dhoni was appealing for that catch' date=' so he did alright to hold on to it but Kohli could have had a better chance to grab on to it in the 2nd chance.[/quote'] he was appealing for LBW, not catch. He had no idea,where the ball was.

[rkt.india]

Dhoni would be standing about 15 feet behind had he been keeping to Kumble on rank turners. On a serious note, i think it was to negate the extreme uneven bounce (low as well as high). Stumpings will be missed but i doubt English batters would be moving out of the crease given the situation they were in. The pace and bounce Jaddu was getting, the ball would easily have carried to Dhoni standing back. I doubt he would stand back to Ashwin or other bowler who bowls slower in air than Jaddu does.

You are talking like he never kept to Kumble, at 4 years

[Straight Drive]

You are talking like he never kept to Kumble' date=' at 4 years[/quote'] Read my post properly. Next sentence i continued with. On a serious note......

[Straight Drive]

No' date='they were also standing 2 feet behind their normal positions.Jaddu got bounce and many inside edges but expectedly they fell short of these fielders.Would have carried easily if they were in normal positions[/quote'] Well, i am no expert on field placements, certainly not than Dhoni. At the most i have played 50 overs matches. So the field placements that i have experienced and used do not apply to different match situations. Generally yes, the typical field placements are good for majority of the batsmen and most of the conditions. But for Joe Root and Moeen, in that particular situation it would be better to have close in fielders at the normal position. Experiment with the silly mid off or on like Ponting started to do on tour of WI. That is fine, but not much with the very close in fielder in normal circumstances.