Jadeja’s inclusion over Ashwin: Situational Decision or Tactical Master Stroke?

Leading up to the remaining One-Off Test Match between India & England, multiple factors came into play, forcing changes. 

To name a few, former skipper Virat Kohli stepped down, Rohit Sharma was named as the new skipper but was ruled due to Covid -19, Shreyas Iyer found his place in the team, Cheteshwar Pujara had to open the innings, Ravi Shastri’s tenure ended, and Dravid became the Head Coach of the Team and the biggest of them all, Jasprit Bumrah donned the leadership role after being named as the Captain.

But one thing that did not change was Ravichandran Ashwin’s making his way into the XI. The Indian off-spinner is usually one of the few cricketers guaranteed a place in the playing XI. Although in the English conditions in 2021, Ashwin was not included in any of the four Test matches played. 

Under Jasprit Bumrah’s captaincy in the 5th Test currently being played at Edgbaston in Birmingham, the team management chose to go with three pacers - Bumrah himself, Shami, and Siraj. Shardul Thakur found his way into the mix as a fast-bowling all-rounder who can bat, and Jadeja being a jack of all trades.

The chosen bowlers were deemed enough to tackle the English batters, and it seems that the exclusion of Ashwin could have been a situational decision.

Team India is habitual to sudden collapses while batting, and we witnessed that in the 2nd session on Day 1. However, Jadeja has been phenomenal with the bat over the last three years, and his stability and patience probably influenced the Think-Tank to go with him.

Jadeja is not only a good batsman but also an excellent left-arm orthodox bowler and can be of utmost help on days 3 and 4 when the pitches at Edgbaston are worn out with footmarks, cracks, and skiddy patches due to rain. Furthermore, Ashwin is not the quickest in the team when it comes to fielding, and there is no match for Jadeja when it comes to restricting runs and taking wickets.

Ravindra Jadeja has scored 17 fifties and two hundred in the last 44 Tests while batting at number 6,7,8,9 - an incredible turnaround since 2016. That’s an impeccable statistic, and it seems like it is a tactical masterstroke by the Indian Think-Tank to include him. In conditions like today, when India were reduced to 98-5, Jadeja can be trusted more with his bat over Ashwin to score some vital runs.

Including Ashwin over Thakur seems like an option, but playing in England with just three pacers is risky. However, the conditions are supposed to be overcast on all five days, and with Thakur’s ability to get the ball to swing and chip in with runs, his inclusion is undoubtedly justified. 

While Rishabh Pant stuck to his aggressive instincts on one end, Jadeja steadied the ship on the other and happily played the second - fiddle. Currently batting on 83 runs, Jadeja will hope to convert it into a ton and help Team India reach the barrier of 400 runs.

Meanwhile, England stalwarts like Micheal Vaughan and others took to Twitter and expressed their disappointment over not seeing Ashwin’s name on the team sheet.