Birmingham [UK], July 1 : As Team India gears up for the second Test in Birmingham against England, there would be worries about the form of premier spinner Ravindra Jadeja, who has not been at his best with both bat and ball since the last few months.
The second Test will start on Wednesday. The visitors trail 0-1 as India failed to defend 371 runs at Leeds, with Jadeja creating plenty of chances, but still failing to exploit the rough patches on the pitch that could have helped him get wickets.
During the first Test, he played knocks of 11 and 25* and had figures of 0/68 and 1/104.
In his last four Tests, Jadeja has picked up just five wickets across 110 overs, averaging a massive 78, at a strike rate of 132 and an economy rate of 3/54. Three of these wickets have been that of lower-order batters. These four Tests include those in Border-Gavaskar Trophy tour to Australia and the first Test against England.
During these last four Tests, Jadeja has also scored just 171 runs at an average of 28.50, with just one fifty in Australia at Brisbane.
Since the series whitewash against New Zealand in October, Jadeja does not appear to be in his original form. He has scored 276 runs in seven Tests and 13 innings at an average of 23.00, with just a half-century, and has taken 21 wickets at an average of 35.00, way higher than his career average of 24.59.
His two five-wicket hauls came during the Wankhede Test against New Zealand, which India lost.
Team India would hope that Jadeja gets his form back.
Squads:
England Squad: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes(c), Jamie Smith(w), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Jofra Archer, Sam James Cook, Jamie Overton
India Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel.