Subplot becomes the flavour of contest at Old Trafford
GRUDGE MATCH All eyes will be on ‘aggrieved’ Jadeja and relieved Anderson
MANCHESTER: As it happens after such an incident, the Ravindra Jadeja-James Anderson row has added needle to the contest between England and India. A fiery hearing on the last day in Southampton will have the players charged up for Old Trafford.
However, the battle which Anderson’s home crowd would be looking forward to is the one against Jadeja.At the moment, the two players stand one-all. Trent Bridge was a tie ,Jadeja won at Lord’s by changing the course of the game with a halfcentury in the second innings, and Anderson came back strongly at Southampton to help England tie the series 1-1. The incident has shades of the Andrew Symonds-Harbhajan Singh‘ Sydney gate row of 2007-08’.In that, Symonds had felt let down by his Board and was never the same player again, fading into oblivion.
Here, Jadeja has reason to feel aggrieved. In his written verdict, the ICC judicial commissioner has mentioned that Anderson admitted he had pushed the player. Naturally, there will be some apprehension in the team on how the all-rounder will react.
The stage is perfectly set. It is Anderson’s turf, however, Jadeja feels he is wronged and has a point to prove. Whether the crowd gets to watch this much-hyped contest remains to be seen.
Anderson is relieved by the verdict and is known to have been in celebration mode. But, it can be demoralising for the player who feels wronged, and the India team management will have to be sure whether Jadeja is in the frame of mind to play.
For cricketing reasons too, the management will have to consider whether India’s purpose will be served better by resting Jadeja. There is a strong case for making changes after the heavy defeat at Southampton.
In a team which has suffered a humiliating defeat, adding fresh men helps bring verve. Then, hav- ing bowled 142.3 overs, it needs to be considered whether the left-arm spinner has been over exposed to the opposition. It felt so, when on the fourth day’s pitch during the third Test, the England batsmen toyed with India’s lone spinner.
In R Ashwin, India have a good spin option. The wicket at Lancashire is said to be hard and bouncy, a surface where the lanky off-spinner may be effective.
Looking at England’s strengths, Gary Ballance has been the main thorn in India’s flesh in this series. The bowlers have been clueless in stopping the No 3 batsman. He tops the run charts with 402 runs, having hit two hundreds and a half-century in three games.
With the advantage of his natural angle of the ball spinning away from left-hand batsman, Ashwin could be a good bet to put Ballance under pressure. Has gone wicketless in two of his only four overseas Tests. Late last year in South Africa, failed to take a wicket in the first Test in Johannesburg. Having sat out the 2nd Test in Durban, he took just one wicket in five ODIs (avg 45.4) in NZ (2014). Omitted for the two Tests which followed. Ashwin has acknowledged he has had to bowl defensively on the captain’s directions.