Asia Cup 2022: Tough road ahead for India without Ravindra Jadeja – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

India suffered their first loss in the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 on Sunday as they were defeated by the arch-rivals Pakistan in a thrilling Super 4 clash at the Dubai International Stadium.

For the second time in Asia Cup 2022, the outcome of an India-Pakistan match was decided in the final over. But this time, Pakistan, who were chasing 182, were on the winning side, defeating India by five wickets, with a ball to spare.

In a match, where fortunes swung wildly, it was Team India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja who was missed badly. For the unversed, Jadeja has been ruled out of the Asia Cup 2022 due to a knee injury. Although Team India have brought in Axar Patel as the replacement, arguably as ‘like-for-like’, but Jadeja’s quality as an all-rounder is unmatchable.

Jadeja, who was part of India’s playing XI for their Asia Cup opener against Pakistan, contributed in all three departments – bowling, batting, and fielding and it was his performance that majorly helped the Men in Blue defeat their arch-rivals, but sans him, Rohit Sharma’s side failed to produce the same result against the same side.

It wasn’t too long ago that Jadeja was seemingly out of India’s limited-overs squad permanently along with Ravichandran Ashwin. Well, that isn’t the case now. In fact, the side is already looking off-balanced in the absence of the three-dimensional player, who not only strengthens the middle-order of the team with his much-improved batting skills, but also gives the team the room to play an extra bowler. And call it a coincidence or sheer bad luck but India on Sunday needed a player with exactly the same skills to beat Pakistan again, but no one rose to the occasion.

It has been clear now that the stability and confidence that Jadeja brings to the side is unparalleled and India’s Asia Cup campaign is just going to get arduous and challenging without the 33-year-old, who also happens to be India’s leading wicket-taker at the Asia Cup.

The middle-order collapse

After the loss against Pakistan, India skipper Rohit Sharma said it out loud that losing wickets of Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya in quick succession was something that was not needed for the side at that juncture of the match.

Coming to bat during the middle overs, Pant and Pandya fell in a span of six balls in a bid to go big and that could have hurt India really bad if not for Virat Kohli, who scored 60 off 44 balls to help the team post a challenging target.

While Rohit made a statement apropos Hardik and Pant’s wicket, one doesn’t need to be genius to figure out that the India skipper, in a subtle way, was hinting at how Jadeja’s absence in the middle-order acted as a catalyst in the defending champions’ defeat.

Plan changed due to losing wickets: Kohli

Kohli top-scored against Pakistan with 60 off 44 balls, hitting four fours and a six. Unfortunately, the former India skipper didn’t get much support as others around him fell in a bid to go big, forcing Kohli to delay pressing the accelerator and go deep for India to post a competitive 181/7, which wasn’t enough to deny Pakistan a thrilling five-wicket win.

The same fact was acknowledged by Kohli himself as during the post-match conference, he stated, “Today (In Sunday’s match), I was making a conscious effort to strike at a higher pace. When we lost wickets, there was communication and our plans changed, where I had to bat till the 18th with Hooda. If there were a couple of batters, I would’ve gone with the same tempo and tried to hit more boundaries or sixes. But again, I ended up being in a situation where I had to go deep.”

Now again, if one read between the lines, it won’t be difficult to decipher Kohli’s statement, which hints at Jadeja’s absence as he is the kind of player who can play according to his partner’s tempo and provide them the freedom to express themselves. Be it smashing the ball from the word go or playing sensibly and building partnerships, Jadeja can do it all and he showed it by building a crucial partnership with Pandya during India’s tournament opener against Babar Azam-led side, which ultimately resulted in the Men in Blue’s victory.

India missed an extra bowler against Pakistan

So, Deepak Hooda made it to the playing XI for the Pakistan clash, but he didn’t bowl a single over during the match, which meant that India lacked the option of a proper sixth bowler, who can pick wickets at crucial stages to turn around the tide. Again, Jadeja is someone who fits in that role perfectly. He is called ‘the man with a golden arm’ for a reason. Even when he’s not picking wickets, Jadeja has the ability to bottle one end up and literally rush through his overs.

Going to get tough for India sans Jadeja in Asia Cup

Going forward in the tournament, India have a real conundrum in their hands as without Jadeja, they could either play Axar Patel, whose bowling skills are impressive, but his batting skills, despite playing some encouraging knocks recently, cannot be compared to that of Jadeja. Or else, India could bring in Rishabh Pant, who is once again not a safe bet as he failed to live upto the expectations of team management and fans during the Pakistan clash.

Deepak Hooda is another option, but he can majorly contribute in the batting department and can’t be trusted with the ball.

Moreover, no player in the Indian side is as lethal as Jadeja when it comes to fielding. The Saurashtra player can not only inflict a run-out from anywhere on the field but he can take the most difficult of catches and also save crucial boundaries with his athleticism, which is very crucial in the shortest format.