LONDON: India’s Ravindra Jadeja is an exceptional cricketer and England are happy that he featured only in the fifth and final Test, said the home team’s assistant coach Paul Farbrace.
Coming into bat at number 8, Jadeja scored his ninth Test half-century to rescue India from 160-6 to 292 in the first innings. “It was very frustrating. There was a chance dropped before that last partnership got going but to be fair to Jadeja, he played magnificently well,” Farbrace said on Sunday.
“I think he’s an exceptional cricketer, a dangerous cricketer – with bat, ball and in the field – and I think we would probably be reasonably happy that he’s only just played in that last game.” Farbrace has said that the fans and cricket community in the country in general will be hoping to see Alastair Cook score a hundred in what is his last Test innings. Cook finished at 46 not out in England’s second innings at the Oval, as the hosts took a 154-run lead. “It’d be fantastic, wouldn’t it, if he was to get to a hundred? It’d be absolutely brilliant. I think he’s just enjoying milking all the applause he’s getting. I think it’s just driving him on to bat as long as he possibly can,” Farbrace said.
“I think he’s played really well; he’s shown everything that he’s about so far in this game. He’s just got stuck in, and it’s not easy out there, but he looks as though he’
s really enjoying the scrap. “I’d imagine the reception he got when he went out to bat probably moved him – it moved everybody else in our dressing-room, the fantastic support he’s had.” Farbrace said. (PTI)
