India cricketer Robin Uthappa believes that the move to promote left-arm spin all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja to number four was a good move which no one would have predicted. Asia Cup In the Group A match against Pakistan, left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant was out of eleven as India chose to stick to Dinesh Karthik’s finishing abilities, which meant the top six batsmen were all right-handed. After Rohit Sharma fell at the end of the eighth over, Jadeja was surprisingly promoted to four and batted till the final over, scoring 35 off 29 balls. He shared 36 runs with Suryakumar Yadav and 52 runs with Hardik Pandya for the fourth and fifth wickets respectively. Jadeja’s presence at the crease meant that Pakistan could not meet their quota of overs from left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz, who bowled the final over and also dismissed Jadeja. But by then, India were on track to chase down 148 and did so with two balls to spare.
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“I think nobody saw that (Jadeja at No. 4) coming. It was a good call. It was a good move. Something that no one had really seen. I really liked that decision. Going for Pakistan’s perspective, last time, they could have bowled an over of a left-arm spinner (Nawaz) in the first six, as they had two right-armers (batting) and it was the right time.” The match ended.
Uthappa further pointed out that Pakistan missed a move by bringing in their spinners since the power-play, citing issues against the slow bowlers at the start of their innings, with India’s batsmen, skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
“It looked like Babar (Azam) took the safe option of bringing in the spinners soon after the powerplay. He could have brought one of them during the powerplay. (It would have been a great match for Rohit and Kohli). The spinners In the first 10 balls, they swing the ball around and at that point they don’t really have a great strike rate, and that proved true again today (India were 38 for 1 after the powerplay) Pakistan has been encouraged.”
Though Hardik Pandya’s all-rounder contribution sealed India’s five-wicket win, senior pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar also shone with figures of 4-26 in his four overs. He got the crucial wicket of Pakistan captain Babar Azam in the third over, with a top-edge pull flying to fine leg. Bhuvneshwar dismissed Shadab Khan, Asif Ali and Naseem Shah at the end of Pakistan’s innings.
“(Bhubaneswar’s contribution) was right there along with Hardik Pandya’s contribution. The story of his resurrection has been long and arduous. He has been gone for two years from an injury, not being able to figure out what was causing the injury day in the NCA – and I’m telling you, those are not easy days, you have a surgery, you go to rehab; the rehab part is the hardest, the surgery is the easiest – and to come back and that Doing boring stuff day after day, for months on end, is extremely hard.”
Uthappa concluded, “And he has taken his time, he has played a lot of cricket, and he has gotten better and better. His confidence has increased. You can see him swinging the ball early and late.”