England wicketkeeper-batter Jos Buttler has compared Ravindra Jadeja’s monumental effort to that of former India captain MS Dhoni. Jadeja rallied India’s fight on the final day at Lord’s but failed to take India home, as England won the third Test by 22 runs to go 2-1 ahead in the five-match Test series.“Jadeja is an incredible cricketer,” Buttler said on For the Love of Cricket, his new podcast with Stuart Broad.“He’s one of those players India turn to. You sort of knew in this run chase, he was going to be a main character because he’s that kind of personality, and he’s the one that has that bit of something about him. He fights. He is always in the big moments.“If KL Rahul was going to be the calm guy to try and take it through, Pant was probably going to be the opposite—with a bit of dash and trying to win it in an hour—whereas Jadeja has that sort of stickability and ‘I’m going to try and be here till the end.’ It was Dhoni-style, really, just like, ‘I’m going to hope you crack first,’” said Buttler.
Later in the podcast, Buttler also explained how well Jadeja batted with No. 10 Jasprit Bumrah and No. 11 Mohammed Siraj.“What I loved most was the way he went about it and how committed he was to his plan.“The amount of faith he showed in No 10 and 11, I think, did wonders for them. I think they buy into that—when you give someone trust and you say, ‘We can do this. This is how we are going to win the game.’“Jadeja gave them a clear role—‘This is what I need from you.’ Bumrah and Siraj, two very feisty, competitive, proud guys, put their bodies on the line. Absolutely, they’re not the best batters, but it’s like they’re going to find a way.“Whether he got it right or wrong, I don’t think is necessarily the point, but the conviction that he had in his plan and the way he was going to execute it—probably a plan that no one thought was worthwhile—that’s what stood out,” he said.
