India National Cricket Team veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has responded to the England National Cricket Team skipper Ben Stokes’ explosive accusations with an official statement.
in a heated spat during Day 2 of the second Test match at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Thursday, July 3.
What exactly happened between Ravindra Jadeja and Ben Stokes?
Just like the Test series opener, the pitch on offer for the second match is quite flat, and the Indian all-rounder Jadeja made the most of it with the bat.
He showcased batting brilliance on the first two days of the play and ensured that he supported his skipper, Shubman Gill, very well, and Team India didn’t suffer horrible collapses like the first game.
The No.1 ranked all-rounder in ICC Test Rankings finished Day 1 with an unbeaten 41 runs in his bag and then on Day 2 hit a half-century off 80 balls.
However, during the early stages of the play on the second day, Jadeja stepped on the danger area of the pitch mistakenly and received a warning from the on-field umpire.
The matter didn’t end there as England players Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes constantly accused him of deliberately damaging the pitch with the English skipper saying to the all-rounder, “Look what you have done, mate.”
However, Jadeja was quick to defend himself and say, “But I was coming from here. I won’t bowl there anyway. Why would I do that? My focus is on batting?”
He feels that I am making it rough for myself – Ravindra Jadeja
Speaking to the media at the press conference, Ravindra Jadeja, who scored 89 runs in the first innings, made it pretty clear that he had no intentions to make rough patches on the surface to use it when he bowls.
“He feels that I am making it rough for myself. In fact, he was making it rougher by using fast bowlers. I didn’t have to make it rough. He was repeatedly telling the umpire that I was running on the wicket.
“But that was not my intention. I ran here and there a few times. But that was in his mind. Hopefully, if we get a chance tomorrow, we will try to bowl in good areas. And we will try to play as well as we can,” Jadeja told the media after the end of the second day’s play.
They scored 587, took three wickets pretty quickly – Dinesh Karthik
Day 2 of the Edgbaston Test ended with England on 77/3 with Joe Root (18*) and Harry Brook (30*) unbeaten and England trailing by 510 runs.
Speaking on Sky Sports after the end of the day’s play, Dinesh Karthik said that India had an ideal day, but the job is still unfinished. He said:
“I think Gautam Gambhir (India head coach) and Shubman Gill, if they ever had to think about what a day should look like or – after two days what a scorecard should look like – then here we have it.
“They scored 587, took three wickets pretty quickly and put the pressure on the two best batters in the world. They’ve done it all but there’s a lot of work to do.”