Shardul Thakur Reveals The Reason Behind Ravindra Jadeja Batting Ahead of Ajinkya Rahane In Oval Test

Ravindra Jadeja batting at no.5 ahead of Ajinkya Rahane became the talk of the town after Day 1 of England vs India 4th Test match ended which was played at Kennington Oval, London. However, Star performer Shardul Thakur has come up with the exact reason behind this move by Indian management.

Notably, fans left shocked when they saw Ravindra Jadeja coming out to bat at no.5 ahead of Indian Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane and Wicketkeeper Batsman Rishabh Pant. Several debates took place and many cricket experts came up with different opinions.

Some thought it was a tactical move by India as they wanted a left-right combination out in the middle. Meanwhile, others thought Ajinkya Rahane was on a toilet break which led to India send Ravindra Jadeja. Also, few experts opined that India was trying to send a message to Rahane after his continuous failure with bat. However, Shardul Thakur was the one who told the reason behind this move by Virat Kohli and management.

“Just to use that left-right combination we sent him up the order,” Shardul Thakur

In a press conference, Shardul Thakur answered the most asked question “why was Ravindra Jadeja sent to bat at No. 5”. Shardul Thakur stated that it was a pre-planned move and India was thinking that from a long time, whom to send, as left-handers Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant both are ‘ match-winners. However, looking at the current form of Indian all-rounder Jadeja was given preference and was sent out to bat at no. 5 position in the Oval Test.

“I think everyone was thinking about it since a long time and whether Rishabh goes or Jadeja goes, it doesn’t really matter because both of them are match-winners. We have seen that on a number of occasions Jadeja has scored crucial runs and coming to England, if you saw his batting in the first Test and also at Lord’s in the first innings, he’s been trying to stay on the pitch, he’s batting patiently and just to use that left-right combination we sent him up the order,” said Shardul Thakur, in reply to Sportskeeda’s query in the press-conference.

However, both Ajinkya Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja had a poor outing with the bat. As latter scored only 10 runs batting at no.5. Meanwhile, Ajinkya Rahane scored 14 runs even Rishabh Pant failed once again as he contributed only 9. However, the player who shined with the bat was Shardul Thakur who smashed the fastest fifty by a player in the history of the game on English soil. Shardul Thakur ended his innings at the score of 57 from 36 balls.

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