Ravindra Jadeja celebrates reaching 50 runs during the fifth cricket test match.
Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja today scored a fighting 86* to bring India within 40 runs of England's first innings 332. After India were down and out of the game at 160/6 on Day 2 at The Oval, Jadeja with the help of debutant Hanuma Vihari (56) forged a 77-run partnership for the seventh wicket. Even after Vihari was dismissed, the southpaw continued to swell India's tally with some lusty blows while keeping a huge price on his wicket.
His innings contained 11 fours and a mighty straight six of the bowling of English pace spearhead James Anderson. It was great to see his batting with the tailenders Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah as he kept taking calculated risks while mostly shielding them from the strike.
To add to his stellar performance in the match, Jadeja had also taken 4/70 in England's first innings. The feat assumes greater significance due to the fact that Jaddu was not even in the playing XI for the first four Tests of the series and got the chance to play due to R Ashwin aggravating his injury.
The all-rounder's efforts haven't gone unnoticed by the cricket fraternity as former cricketers and fans alike took to Twitter to shower praise on the Saurashtra player.
With a lead of 40 runs, despite Jadeja's effort, England would still fancy their chances of winning the Test as the Indian batting is nowhere near its best and even an overall lead of 200 could prove to be enough for the hosts to make it 4-1 for the series.
