'Owning a hammer but punching nails in with your fist instead' - Mark Butcher on Ravindra Jadeja's bowling in Headingley Test

Former English cricketer, Mark Butcher, expressed disappointment in the manner Ravindra Jadeja bowled during the first Test of the five-match series between England and India. For the unversed, Jadeja was able to secure only one wicket across both innings in the 47 overs he bowled.

Butcher, in particular, underlined how Jadeja didn't exploit the rough generated on the pitch on the final day of the game while bowling to left-handed batters like Ben Duckett and Ben Stokes. 

“I couldn't believe how poorly he bowled, really. I'd likened it to owning a hammer but punching nails in with your fist instead – not landing the ball in the rough at all until, basically, it was too late. That was extraordinary, really. You talk about experience, and he has all the experience in the world. Somehow, it didn't seem to click to him or Rishabh Pant, the keeper, that it might be a good idea not to keep missing the rough all day to the left-handers,” shared Butcher while speaking on the Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast.

The issue was around the lineup itself: Butcher

Butcher felt the contest would have been much more even had Kuldeep Yadav been included in the mix rather than Shardul Thakur, who had a minimal contribution in the game. 

“The issue was around the lineup itself. How much more interesting might that last day have been had they gone for Kuldeep [Yadav] instead of [Shardul] Thakur, Thakur had had a really poor game until that one over where he gave India a tiny sniff at the back-end. If you're not contributing with the bat down there at No.8, you damn well be taking wickets, and be in the game as a bowler for more of the game than he was,” added Butcher.

The series opener at Headingley marked only the second time in Jadeja's storied Test career that he had picked up only one wicket in an entire Test after bowling 20-plus overs in both innings. He did not contribute with the bat too, scoring only 36 runs across both of India's innings. India were defeated by five wickets.