The home team has so far dominated the opening two days of the current Test match between India and Sri Lanka. However skipper Rohit Sharma’s decision to declare the Indian innings, with Ravindra Jadeja on the verge of scoring a well-deserved double century hasn’t gone well with the fans.
At the IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali, Jadeja coming in at no.7, batted wonderfully, scoring 175* from 228 balls. Given how briskly the scoreboard was moving, Jadeja probably just needed 4 to 5 more overs to reach the milestone of 200 runs.
However, Rohit Sharma felt 574/8 was a sufficient team score for the first innings and it was time to invite the visitors to bat.
Cricket fans have now also started to draw parallels between today’s decision and the famous Multan Test in 2004 when then-captain and current head coach Rahul Dravid had declared India’s innings leaving Sachin Tendulkar stranded on 194*.
Here is how twitter reacted to the unexpected declaration:
#jadeja 🤝 Sachin
Dravid pic.twitter.com/xLhmfWtdur
— Shivani (@meme_ki_diwani) March 5, 2022
Dravid was criticized for that declaration while he was the captain.
Dravid is still being talked upon for the declaration while he is the coach.
Coach escaped then, captain escaping now.
— Dr Sagar Garg (@DrGumsNProbes) March 5, 2022
Jadeja is one 173, looks like Dravid Saab is waiting for him to score another 21.
— Ricky talks Cricket (@CricRicky) March 5, 2022
batsman about to score 200
dravid saab pic.twitter.com/u9ZyqqmZVV
— Arun Lol (@dhaikilokatweet) March 5, 2022
Rahul Dravid has got some real problem with 200s 😅
— Shivani Shukla (@iShivani_Shukla) March 5, 2022
Rahul Dravid can answer that https://t.co/K44RM00L9C
— Suvajit Mustafi (@RibsGully) March 5, 2022
Rahul Dravid in the dressing room, #Jadeja unbeaten on 175 and India declare their first innings against Sri Lanka. #INDvSL
— Rahul Rawat (@rawatrahul9) March 5, 2022
Dravid and Jadeja today #INDvSL pic.twitter.com/QafyOH6SuJ
— #LetBholiOpen (@Quick__Single) March 5, 2022
I understand why Dravid is trending, but the onus of when to declare an innings lies with the captain.#Jadeja
— Nikhil Naz (@NikhilNaz) March 5, 2022
I am boycotting Rahul Dravid. This was completely unnecessary. Jadeja deserved 200.
— ` (@FourOverthrows) March 5, 2022
Rahul Dravid after seeing Rohit Sharma declaring the innings before someone's 200#INDvSL #Jadeja pic.twitter.com/uGOJ2Jicoc
— Pushkar (@musafir_hu_yar) March 5, 2022
Multan Test, 2004:
India declared with Sachin on 194*.
Dravid was the captain.Mohali Test, 2022:
India declared with Jadeja on 175*.
Dravid is the coach.No offence! #INDvSL
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) March 5, 2022
Rohit declaring the innings when Jadeja is near 200
Dravid be like: pic.twitter.com/0QZzTJzzYH
— Rishabh Srivastava (@AskRishabh) March 5, 2022
Ravindra Jadeja Breaks Kapil Dev’s record
For the seventh wicket, Ravindra Jadeja added 130 runs with his bowling partner Ravichandran Ashwin, who hit 61 off 82 balls before being dismissed by pacer Suranga Lakmal.
After that Jadeja continued batting intelligently and stitched a 103-run partnership with tailender Mohammed Shami. Jadeja’s knock contained 17 fours and three sixes in total. It was his second century in Test Cricket.
With this innings, Jadeja broke legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev’s 35-year old record for the highest individual score by an Indian at no. 7 in Men’s Tests. Back in December of 1986, Kapil had scored 163 runs against Sri Lanka in Kanpur batting at the same position.
Ravindra Jadeja also became only the third Indian to score 150+ runs in a Test innings while batting at No. 7 or below. Apart from Jadeja and Kapil, Rishabh Pant is the only other Indian batter in that list. In 2019, Pant had made an unbeaten 159 against Australia in Sydney.
'Rockstar' @imjadeja 👏👏@Paytm #INDvSL pic.twitter.com/JG25othE56
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 5, 2022
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