The Indian coach tells why he picked Jadeja for Antigua Test
India’s head coach Ravi Shastri explains Ravindra Jadeja was chosen for recent Antigua Test instead of Ravichandran Ashwin. The Antigua Test was the opening Test match of India’s West Indies tour this year. India won the match by 318 runs. Both teams are currently playing in the second Test match of the tour, with Jadeja part of the lineup again.
‘The reason why we picked Jadeja in the first Test, was in case we fielded, and the track was damp, with his pace, he would have made life a little awkward for the batsmen. He could have been used on the first session of play on day one’, Shastri stated.
Ashwin’s Test performance last year during the Southampton Test against England also did not make his case better for this year’s Tests. Ashwin was picked over Jadeja at Adelaide but he continued to deliver subpar performance for India. Jadeja was finally given the chance to play this year.
‘It is a difficult decision to leave out Ashwin or Kuldeep (Yadav)’, Shastri continued. ‘If you see these tracks (in West Indies)...from what I have seen of this track (in Jamaica), I don’t think there would be much on offer for the spinners where you would need control’.
The second Test match of India’s tour will run from August 30 to September 4. The Test series of the tour is part of the new ICC World Test Championship 2019-21. Ravindra Jadeja still plays for India in the second Test against West Indies. He is also a player of the Chennai Super Kings, a team that plays in the Indian Premier League. Get more information about the league at Betwala.
READ MORE: What is the Indian Premier League?
