ENG vs IND 2025: 'If he only had trusted Bumrah more' - Balwinder Sandhu on Jadeja's Lord's knock

Former Indian cricketer Balwinder Singh Sandhu praised Ravindra Jadeja as a smart cricketer who remains calm under pressure. However, Sandhu suggested that this time Jadeja might have felt the fear of failure, and the pressure of relying on the tail-enders may have affected his game.

During India’s chase of 193, Jadeja was left to bat alongside the tail. When the team was struggling at 112 for 8, Jadeja managed to forge important partnerships with Jasprit Bumrah and later with Mohammed Siraj. Although both bowlers were dismissed eventually, Jadeja remained unbeaten till the end, but India ultimately lost the match by 22 runs.

“Coming to the final moments, Ravindra Jadeja is someone I’ve known since his U-19 days at the National Cricket Academy. Even back then, he showed maturity beyond his age. He’s a smart cricketer, calm under pressure, but this time, maybe the fear of failing, or the pressure of not trusting the tail, got the better of him,” Sandhu wrote in a column for Mid-Day.

“If only he had trusted Jasprit Bumrah a bit more – especially when Bumrah was defending so well – and resisted taking that single off the fourth ball to retain strike. Had he backed himself to finish it in those last two balls, with the field up, it was a perfect moment to go for the boundary,” he added.

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Indian Test legend Cheteshwar Pujara also observed that the pitch was on the slower side, which made it difficult for Jadeja to score quickly. He emphasised that scoring runs on such a pitch, especially on Day 5, was a tough challenge.

“He couldn’t have scored faster on that track. I felt that it was because the ball was soft, and the pitch was on the slower side. I guess, Jadeja would have thought that the tailenders were batting well and the team was getting close to the total. And once they were a little closer he would have taken his chances. I thought he was batting well. It was very difficult to score runs on that pitch,” said Pujara.

“The only thing he could have done better is to look to score down the ground. Like there was a gap between mid-off and cover,” he concluded.