Ravindra Jadeja bowling straight and not into the rough baffles me: Dinesh Karthik

Former Indian keeper-batter Dinesh Karthik has slammed the Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja for bowling straight against England instead of bowling on the rough patches, which would have troubled the batters on Day 5 of the Leeds Test.

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Notably, India suffered a five-wicket loss to England in the opening game of the five-match Test series at Headingley, Leeds on Tuesday, June 24. Interestingly, the Leeds surface didn't offer much to the bowlers, including the star pacer Jasprit Bumrah on the final day.

"He was (Jadeja) bowling straight and not into the rough, that baffles me, because for a man with so much experience, he must know what it means to bowl in the rough. He should've gone wide of the wicket, and bowl into the rough. What Duckett did today was domination of the purest form, in the most clever manner. The way he just played with Jadeja and Shubman Gill, saying no matter where you put the field, I am going to play that shot," Karthik told Cricbuzz.

Furthermore, Karthik also stated that Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj started off bowling an excellent first spell. However, they couldn’t get enough support from other pacers like Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur.

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"I don't think we genuinely have the skill set beyond the certain bowlers who can actually make inroads, that's a fact. You can't be too hard on the Indian team, they will find bowlers eventually, and they will start defending these scores. Bumrah and Siraj bowled a high quality first spell, they did not get a wicket, but they set it up. Shardul and Prasidh did not bowl consistent lengths, it was all over the place," he added.

Team India will next take on England in the second Test of the five-match series, starting on Wednesday, July 2 at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

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