Jadeja's batting today. Turning point for him?

[sandeep]

Tempting to read too much into this innings and say that he will be a better batsman from now.  I don't think we should get too carried away just yet.  From what I have seen of his batting in tests, one of Jadeja's biggest challenges is figuring out whether to attack or defend.  

 

Until today, he had worked himself into a corner, where he felt that his best chance with the bat was to go for his shots early on, and hit a few boundaries - this way, he could at least chip in with 20-odd runs.  The few times he tried to defend, he would end up getting dismissed, and that served to re-inforce his belief in the tailender style aggressive batting mindset.  Shot selection is a bit of a challenge for him, and so is patience.  And this still remains an issue for him.  What helped him succeed in this innings was the match situation simplified the decision-making process for him - he had pretty much no option but to bat defensively and support Ashwin.  Every single run was important at 204/6.  On top of that, England's defensive bowling tactics also made it easier for him to decide which deliveries to defend/leave.  Feeding him a ton of leave-able balls way outside off only served to give him space to trust his defensive game.  

 

 Against a more probing bowling attack, I think Jadeja will still struggle a bit to figure out which deliveries to leave/defend/attack.  His mental approach still leans more towards a 1st gear/4th gear mind-set.  And if Jaddu is not defending/leaving, his approach to scoring runs is to hit shots that carry risk.  Even though he has the capability to hit quality ground-stroke boundaries, he still is more likely to hammer the ball for 4/6 instead of timing it.  This is the biggest difference between his batting approach and Ashwin's.  Ash seems to just trust his game, is willing to play percentage cricket, and his boundaries invariably have that effortless vibe about them, because he hardly ever slugs the ball.  

 

TLDR:  Shot selection and batting 'method' is, and remains Sir's outsanding challenge on the batting front.  It was a bit easier for Jadeja in this innings because of the scenario and England's poor tactics.  This will not always be the case.  I still would dearly love Cricketics to be right about him, and maybe he does go on to be a more successful batsman from here forward, but I would be a bit surprised if it happens.  

[Brainfade]

Most definitely a confidence-builder.  If he can chip in with 40s and 50s consistently, he will be exceeding batting expectations.  

 

With a tail consisting of Ashwin, Jadeja and Yadav, who needs a top-order?  

[Cricketics]

Yes, before last night, he had forced himself into some kind of weird zone which was getting hard for him to get out of. He was not able to show the confidence in his batting the way he would have liked to show. He had some kind of syndrome which he knew how to get out of, but had just not been able to do so. 

 

A guy who has hit a triple century once in his lifetime, must have good amount of patience. Jadeja has had three and it was perplexing to see such player struggle continuously with the bat. He seems to be the person who need to be talked to on regular basis regardless of what experience or seniority level he might possess. He is one of those who has to be used very well by captain in order to bring the best out of him. Under Dhoni, he became a really  good bowler. He wasn't as good earlier. Credit to Dhoni for making him what he is today and giving him plenty of games and supporting him as a bowler. But within that, his batting dropped as he started bowling long overs. He was being perhaps reminded of his role as just the bowler and this is where I think he was happy coming out and bowling India to victory with Ashwin. 

 

Dhoni retires and checks in Kohli as captain, and things change. Kohli is a stubborn captain who wants to win by playing just 5 proper batsmen. This means, he has already alerted Ashwin and other bowlers who bat in the lower order to score some runs and earn your slot in the team. He pushes Ashwin to no. 6 and drops Saha down the order and indicates to others in the team that no one is going to reserve their battting slot. If you bat well, you move up the order and if you don't you might drop down or might go out of the team. Kohli is a strict captain, and that stern nature of Kohli has put something back in the head of Jadeja of how to bat in the middle and not throw away his wicket like a 2020 slogger which he has been doing all this time. 

 

Jadeja has found himself back as a batsman. He was leaving the ball today. His batting mindset is back. Back for good. 

[sandeep]

^ You definitely make valid points regarding his confidence and mindset.  Easy to see how he almost reconciled himself to thinking, don't aim too high with the bat - that approach is failing, so why not embrace my shot-making strengths and thwack a few boundaries, the 20-odd runs will be more helpful than a hard-tried slow crawl that doesn't pan out.  Heck it worked at Lords, let's stick with hitting my way into a decent score.  

 

But clearly that is a approach that is risky and a bit flaky.  And its not as if he doesn't have the game.  Its not a skills challenge, its more a batting method and innings pacing challenge.  If he succeeds like he did today a few more times, with the patient approach, hopefully he learns and gets into the habit of looking to score without risky slogs.  Would be amazing for Team India if he does.  

[gakgupta]

Irrespective of this innings, he will not be regular Indian test cricket outside ASIA.

I always liked watching him

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[rkt.india]

Also Jayant Yadav's showing in previous games has also rubbed on him to some extent, probably found a competitor in Jayant.

[G_B_]

As Rkt mentioned competition brings out the best

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[SUMO]

his first proper test inning ... here he applied himself and defended well for the first time

[express bowling]

Jayant  Yadav's technique, confidence and effectiveness with the bat and good performance with the ball ..... has set the cat among the pigeons regarding all 2nd and  3rd spinner candidates as well as the 6th batsman candidates.  

 

 

Edited November 28, 2016 by express bowling

[beetle]

Jayant's performance made him concentrate on batting better.

[philcric]

India's late middle order looking good with options ..

 

Ashwin

Saha / Ojha / Patel / Pant

Pandya

Jadeja

J Yadav

B Kumar

 

You pick any of them (based on conditions) and 6-9 in the batting order looks pretty good.

 

[Sandeep99]

Sir always flatters to deceive.. 

 

On a serious note, I always feel Jadeja always rises to the occasion. Sort of the guy who will score when you direly need them runs. Just like Lords or the match against South Africa or the one against New Zealand. If the team is already well set, he opens up and tries to slog away like a true tailender. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. In essence, a perfect team player. Sir is the best.

Edited November 28, 2016 by Sandeep99

[Sandeep99]

On another note, Jayant Yadav is looking seriously impressive. His technique will be scrutinized before the Mumbai test, but boy doesn't he look solid? This guy may well help India play 2 spinners on away tours. Can easily be our number 6. Especially given that he has serious temperament. He was not throwing it away even when he was batting with Umesh Yadav and with 100+ lead. Serious batsman!

Edited November 28, 2016 by Sandeep99

[MCcricket]

Jadeja had lost the confidence to defend n his ability to play fast bowlers earlier on away tours n then started playing like a tailender.

With Jayants success n Virats approach n will to win he had to step up n certainly shows he has the ability n skills but lacked fortitude n temperament , this knock could well be the turning point although a 100 would be great, he left well, played short n short of the length corridor balls well which were his weakness earlier, Ashwin has had a major impact on our test side n too me he is as valuable as Kohli n sometimes more.

[Vilander]

5 hours ago, rkt.india said:

Also Jayant Yadav's showing in previous games has also rubbed on him to some extent, probably found a competitor in Jayant.

the way he exposed Jayant earlyon in his innings, after getting cheeky singles first ball was borderline careless, but Jayant was up to the task.

Edited November 28, 2016 by Vilander

[putrevus]

One swallow does not make summer, hope he becomes a better batsman but  the way he got out still shows he has only two gears , one blindly slog/slash or defend more than it is required.He needs to find that in between game where in he is more controlled but still very positive.

 

He needs to learn how to defend fast bowlers, positive defense gives so much confidence to a batsman.

[Vilander]

1 hour ago, philcric said:

India's late middle order looking good with options ..

 

Ashwin

Saha / Ojha / Patel / Pant

Pandya

Jadeja

J Yadav

B Kumar

 

You pick any of them (based on conditions) and 6-9 in the batting order looks pretty good.

 

and the fact that Umesh/Shami wont throw their wickets not muck around.

[express bowling]

10 minutes ago, Vilander said:

and the fact that Umesh/Shami wont throw their wickets not muck around.

Umesh played 42 deliveries today ....his highest ever in test matches....and scored only 12.

 

Impressive as he was trying to give support to Jayant.

[sandeep]

1 hour ago, express bowling said:

Umesh played 42 deliveries today ....his highest ever in test matches....and scored only 12.

 

Impressive as he was trying to give support to Jayant.

I was going to create a thread on this.  Umesh is a very hard worker, and you can see this in his batting and fielding.  He's athletic to begin with, but has really upped his fielding game.  And you can see he puts the effort in with the bat as well - doesn't have much skill but doesn't hurt to try.  Another nickname to go with the Banker (Ashwin) and the Flash (Jadeja) - the Lohaar (blacksmith) - hard-working, no-nonsense, all sweat and grit.  

[Laaloo]

Yadav is definitely a very good fielder. Safe pair of hands and dives and saves runs at the boundary as well.