Ravindra Jadeja and James Anderson aren’t the best of friends and everyone knows it. Since the 2014 test series between India and England where Jadeja and Anderson had got indulged in a nasty verbal duel, there has always been a little bit of sting whenever these two players come across each other.
They were into the battle again in the first innings of the ongoing Edgbaston test match and Ravindra Jadeja ended up having an upper hand this time around, as he scored his first-ever overseas hundred and put India in a position where they could control the game by bowling well.
When Anderson was later asked about Jadeja’s knock in the press conference, he said the biggest change in Jadeja has been his mentality since the time he has been promoted in the batting order from no. 8 to no. 7.
According to Anderson, at no. 8, Jadeja used to play a lot more shots a bit too early because he had to bat with tail-enders. But, at 7, he thinks like a proper batsman and plays like a proper batsman by leaving a lot of balls.
I have batted the same way at no. 8 or no. 7: Ravindra Jadeja
Ravindra Jadeja later came on to address the press from the Indian camp and when he was asked about Anderson’s remarks that his mentality as a batsman is different now than what it was in the past, he didn’t quite seem to agree.
The Indian left-arm spinning allrounder said that his mentality is more or less the same whether he used to bat at no. 8 or he is batting at 7. Even when he was batting at 8, he used to try and stitch partnerships.
However, Jadeja chuckled a bit saying that he is happy James Anderson has finally realized his batting potential after 2014.
The 2014 series was a significant one because the duel between Jadeja and Anderson in that series had gone to the ICC. Even the then Indian captain MS Dhoni was not happy with some of the comments made by Anderson towards Jadeja back in 2014.
