Sanjay Manjrekar critiques Ravindra Jadeja's batting against spinners following Nathan Lyon dismissal: 'Urges improvement in technique'

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has recently shared his criticism of Ravindra Jadeja's batting technique against spin during the Boxing Day Test against Australia. Despite scoring a half-century at the Gabba, Jadeja struggled at the MCG and was dismissed for 17 by Nathan Lyon. The Indian all-rounder attempted to salvage his innings on Day 3 starting at 4 runs, but only managed to add 13 more before falling into Lyon's trap.

Manjrekar asserted that Jadeja looked comfortable with his technique against the pace bowlers, but he was misjudging the spinner and tried to play for the off-spin against Lyon, but his ball wasn't turning.

"He played the fast bowlers a lot and played them very well. He didn't make even a slight mistake against the fast bowlers. However, once Nathan Lyon came, he was expecting off-spin, that the ball would turn. His bat came for the off-spin and the ball was not turning at all. So he played with that mindset," Manjrekar said on Star Sports.

Jadeja scored a gritty fifty at the Gabba and rescued India from a tricky position to avoid follow-on, but it wasn't the same story for him at the MCG. Lyon bowled a slider to Jadeja, and he tried to play it across the line but missed it completely and was hit on the pads. The umpire gave him out, but the all-rounder decided to go for a review where it was seen that the ball would have hit the top of the middle and off stumps. It was the seventh time when Lyon got the better of him in 16 Test innings.

Earlier, there were two instances of run-out in the first session when Jadeja and Pant lacked communication, but Australia couldn't benefit from it. However, they identified Jadeja's area of struggle and put Lyon into the attack to get rid of him.

‘Ravindra Jadeja needs to practice a little more against spin’

Manjrekar advised Jadeja to practice a bit more against spinners in the nets. He feels that the batter's focus often shifted towards getting ready for pacers when they travel overseas, which is also the case with the Indian all-rounder.

"It seems like Jadeja needs to practice a little more against spin because he is looking absolutely comfortable against seam. He used to play very well against spin earlier but it happens that when you play overseas, you start playing fast bowling well and your focus is slightly removed from spin. If only fast bowlers had been there, Jadeja would have played a big knock," he added.

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