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On the field, Jaddu not only made a blast with the bat, but also caught everyone’s attention with a heated exchange with England captain Ben Stokes.
When Jadeja was batting on the second day of the match, the England players accused him of tampering with the pitch.
Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes complained to the umpire that Jadeja was stepping on the dangerous part of the pitch, which was creating marks.
Stokes interrupted Jadeja and said, “Look brother, what have you done?”
But Jaddu was not going to keep quiet! He immediately retorted,
“I was just going from here. Anyway, I will not bowl there. Why would I do that? My focus is on batting!”
Jadeja not only put forward his point, but also showed his magic with the bat. He hit 89 runs in 137 balls and shared a brilliant partnership of 203 runs with captain Shubman Gill.
Gill did wonders, surprising everyone by playing a record-breaking innings of 269 runs. Jadeja’s innings ended on a short ball from Josh Tongue, when keeper Jamie Smith caught him. But by then Jaddu had done his job.
India scored a mammoth total of 587 runs in the match, with Gill and Jadeja contributing significantly. England had lost 3 wickets for 77 runs till stumps, giving India the upper hand.
The pitch is easy for batting, but taking 20 wickets will be a big challenge for the Indian bowlers.
Jadeja later termed Stokes’ allegations as a “mind game”.
He said, “They think I am spoiling the pitch, but I was just batting. They wanted to trouble me with their fast bowlers, but I did my job.”
This Test series has become more interesting now, because along with the bat and ball on the field, the verbal war is also in full swing.