Sir Ravindra Jadeja makes England bow their heads in respect with valiant 61-run knock

Jadeja batted 30.1 overs of India's 74.5 overs alone during the 193-run chase.

What a legend! Win or lose, this innings from Ravindra Jadeja will be etched in India’s Test history. Chasing 193 seemed easy enough at Lord’s but that task became monumental itself by the end of Day 4. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Karun Nair, and Shubman Gill were all in the hut already. Akash Deep going out didn’t help either.

By the time Jadeja walked into the middle at 71/5. In the next four overs, India lost 2 more wickets as KL Rahul and Washington Sundar departed. All of a sudden, the score was 82/7. It wouldn’t have shocked anyone if England had rolled India out for under 100, given how well they were bowling and the amount of pressure the visitors were under.

Then arose Sir Ravindra Jadeja. While England tested Nitish Kumar Reddy with the ball and words, Jadeja stood there like a rock. Nitish studied himself after getting tested and just when India was raising its hopes, he fell. Just 3 balls away from lunch.

Jadeja gives India hope

At this stage, 82 runs were still needed. Jadeja was batting on 17 and had already played 53 balls. England needed 2 wickets in 2 sessions. Jasprit Bumrah, Jadeja’s partner, had scored 0 runs in his last 3 innings. Mohammed Siraj, the next batter, had just 11 runs to his name in 4 innings.

Many would have assumed that lasting even 10 overs would be a miracle given how India’s tail had performed. But Jadeja was standing there like a rock. The ball had also softened by now and wasn’t really doing any tricks, especially for the fast bowlers. To everyone’s surprise, Bumrah didn’t just survive but some might say even thrived.

He faced 54 balls alone. Only once had he faced more deliveries in an innings. With Jadeja, the pacer added 35 runs in 22 overs. The more he batted, the more frustrated England got. After being pestered by the short ball, Bumrah finally gave in and played a mistimed pull.

England were 1 wicket away. India needed 46 runs. Jadeja was on 42. A few overs later, he brought up his fifty. But he knew the job wasn’t done. The all-rounder didn’t bring out his sword celebrations as he usually does. 36 runs were still needed. England were targeting Siraj with the short ball but he stayed put.

Since Jadeja was finding it tough to strike the ball, which had gone soft, and the field was spread out, each run mattered. Playing longer was the way to win. Jadeja had been executing it perfectly. By the time Tea was taken, India needed 30 runs to win and Jadeja had already played 162 balls. For comparison, the entire team had played 420 balls.

Luck takes it away

India continued where they left off. Siraj blocked as well as he could, and Jadeja took the game forward slowly. And then in the 75th over, tragedy happened. After a solid defence from Siraj off a short and bouncing ball from Bashir, the ball dropped and ever so slowly rolled onto the stumps. A single ball fell and England went on a run.

Siraj sat down in despair. Joe Root and Zak Crawley even came to compose him. Jadeja looked to the sky, in disappointment. He remained unbeaten at 61 but all his effort was in vain, as England won by 22 runs. But for nearly 3 hours, everything was on his whim. He made Stokes sigh more than one can remember. Frustrated England by taking singles when he wanted. The moniker of ‘Sir’ has never seemed more deserved for Ravindra Jadeja than today at Lord’s.