Ravindra Jadeja posts morale-boosting message after Edgbaston loss
England might have handed a bitter seven-wicket defeat to India in the rescheduled fifth and final Test match at Edgbaston on July 5 to level the series 2-2, but star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has gone on to say that he feels great to have contributed from his end to the Indian team even though the end result did not go in their favor.
The southpaw posted this morale-boosting message on his official Twitter handle that read “A game which had its highs and lows. Always a great feeling to contribute to my team, even though we fell short. A hard-fought series where the competition was at its best.”
A hard-fought series where competition was at its best: Ravindra Jadeja
Jadeja failed to make an impact with the ball going wicketless in both innings, but was very impressive with the bat in the first innings scoring a valiant 104 and more importantly was involved in a 222-run stand for the sixth wicket along with Rishabh Pant that helped India reach a mammoth total of 416.
While the visitors did enjoy a sizeable first-innings lead of 132 runs having bowled England out for 284, they could not make the most of their chances and could only add 245 runs in their second innings to set a 378-run target which was chased down by England within the first hour of the fifth day.
The foundation was laid by openers Alex Lees (56) and Zak Crawley (46) who added 107 runs for the first wicket before being reduced to 109/3. However, India completely missed the trick of adding pressure on the famed middle-order pair of Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow early on just when they were struggling to get going.
The turning point might be Hanuma Vihari dropping a sitter of Bairstow when he was on 14 runs. Both batters then made things miserable for the Indian bowlers as they not only went on to score match-winning centuries but were also involved in an unbeaten 269-run stand for the fourth wicket.
While Root (142*) registered his 28th Test ton, his fifth in 2022, and fourth of the just-concluded series, Bairstow (114*) scored back-to-back centuries in this Test match.
