Former Indian cricket team spinner R Ashwin revealed his conversation with 'a big cricketer' regarding the Shubman Gill-led side's narrow loss against England on Sunday. Chasing 193, the India top-order struggled massively and although Ravindra Jadeja did slam a gritty half-century, the visitors fell 22 runs short of the target. Ashwin said that Jadeja should have taken a bit more risk when it comes to the run chase but praised him for his stunning effort that showed batters can play Test cricket with patience.
"I was messaging a big cricketer throughout the match. I won't take his name, but both of us were discussing the match. Both of us felt that Jadeja should have probably taken a little more risk, but not a lot. The way he played, hats off! Jaddu showed an entire generation of Gen Bold that you can play with patience and skin the Test game," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
Ashwin further said that both Jadeja and Siraj should have targeted Shoaib Bashir rather than constantly defending the deliveries. Both batters tried to play out the balls but Ashwin believed that a slightly more aggressive approach could have helped them to relieving the pressure.
"He could have picked one moment with Siraj and asked him to go after Bashir because Siraj can hit a clean ball. He can hit a spinner to the leg side with the slope," Ashwin said.
Legendary India skipper Anil Kumble also echoed similar sentiments as Ashwin.
"I was just reminded of one Test match where I lost by 12 runs against Pakistan in Chennai. It (Siraj's dismissal) was a similar kind of dismissal. Just 22 runs. Jadeja left stranded. I mean, he planned to get India this close to winning. But England just stuck to their task," Kumble, who was a part of that line-up in Chennai, said on 'JioHotstar'.