"I think it could be a one-time affair"- Virender Sehwag lists out the possibilities on Ravindra Jadeja's promotion to No.5
Former India opener Virender Sehwag believes Ravindra Jadeja's surprise promotion to No.5 could just be a solitary instance and not a regular plan moving forward. The all-rounder came in at the crease after the loss of the third wicket ahead of Ajinkya Rahane on day one of the fourth Test.
Jadeja forged a 30-run partnership with Virat Kohli at the other end. He withstood the pressure towards the end of the first session in the process. He was dismissed for 10 after facing 34 deliveries. He was caught in the slips by Joe Root off the bowling of Chris Woakes, who proceeded to take two more wickets to finish as the pick of the bowlers.
Numerous possibilities were outlined regarding Jadeja's surprise appearance at No.5 ahead of specialist batsmen. Virender Sehwag primarily believed the change was executed to introduce a right-hand and left-hand combination to throw the England bowlers off their rhythm. As per the Hindustan Times, Sehwag said:
"Maybe it was step taken to force the England bowlers to alter their line and length against a left-hander. And if the reason is something else then it’s not a good sign for India. It could be just one of the matches when Jadeja was promoted up and sent in to bat ahead of Ajinkya Rahane."
"The conditions are favouring swing and troubling the right-handers, so send in Jadeja at No. 5; which we usually see in the shorter formats. The right-hand and left-hand combination often troubles a bowler, so may be to introduce that format in Tests as well."
However, Sehwag feels that this would not be a regular occurrence and is just a one-time affair. Sehwag added:
“Rahane hasn’t scored much in the last games but same is the case with Kohli and Pujara. Why wasn’t their position altered? So, I think it could be a one-time affair.”
Even when I wasn’t scoring as an opener, I was sent to bat in the middle order: Virender Sehwag
The explosive opening batsman noted that even his batting position was altered when he was not amongst the runs. He also cited an example from the 2004 Tour of Australia where captain Sourav Ganguly shuffled batting positions with the under-fire Sachin Tendulkar.
The Little Masters endured a rough tour after a poor string of outings in Brisbane and Adelaide. Following another failure in the first innings of the Boxing Day Test, he was demoted to No.5 with Sourav Ganguly coming in at the No.4 position. The move arguably paid dividends as Tendulkar went on to score an iconic innings of 241 in his very next innings. Sehwag added:
"I remember, Tendulkar wasn’t getting runs in the 2004 tour of Australia. So, Sourav Ganguly changed his position from No. 4 to 5 and he himself batted at No.4. It happens sometimes that when you are getting out regularly while batting at a similar position then such changes are made."