"He struggles to bowl to left-handers; don't think anyone is helping him"- Former Indian cricketer on Ravindra Jadeja
Former Indian cricketer Laxman Sivaramakrishnan feels Ravindra Jadeja doesn't bowl well against left-handers in white-ball cricket. The former leg-spinner is an astute reader of the game and has followed Jadeja's career for a long time, thereby making some interesting observations.
Sivaramakrishnan agrees that Jadeja's batting for Team India has just reached the next level and that he has always been a good fielder. However, he feels that the left-arm spinner seems to be short of ideas while bowling to a left-hander in a limited-overs game.
Speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda in an interaction arranged by Sony Sports Network, here's what Sivaramakrishnan had to say about how batters set themselves up for the big shot while facing Jadeja:
"Jadeja has improved his batting tremendously and his fielding has always been electric. But he struggles to bowl to a left-hander and I don't think anyone is helping him bowl better either. He is just coming in and firing it at 95-105 mph and hoping that something good will happen. He is waiting to be hit over long-on and deep midwicket for the left-hander."
Jadeja should not now straight away walk in white ball format. Washington Sundar should get more chances. Jadeja has to wait now.
Former Indian cricketer on importance of wicket-taking bowlers
Sivaramakrishnan also feels that most bowlers in modern-day cricket are looking to remain economical rather than taking that extra risk of being hit for runs in order to pick up wickets.
He believes this mindset won't help any team take wickets in the middle overs, which is crucial because that affects how the batting team scores at the death.
On this, the former Indian leg-spinner stated:
"The most important thing for a bowler is to pick wickets and then they should think about keeping things right. But if you only focus on keeping things right and don't pick wickets in the middle-overs, batters are now hitting it into the crowds. They are not worries about the extra man outside the circle anymore. So if you don't pick wickets in the middle-overs, the last ten overs will go for a minimum of 100-120 runs."
India will play the first game of the three-match ODI series against Bangladesh in Dhaka on Sunday, December 4.