India's veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja demanded better performances from top batsmen including Virat Kohli in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Ravindra Jadeja said that the failure of the top order is putting more pressure on the lower order batsmen and things are getting quite difficult for the Indian national cricket team.
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India's batsmen struggled in BGT 2024-25
The visiting team's batsmen, barring KL Rahul, have struggled to get going in the ongoing five-match Test. series against the Australian national cricket team.
Rahul, who started to open the innings for the team, looked the best of all the batsmen. He scored 235 runs at an average of 47. The young all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy is the other batsman, who showed fine touch and scored 179 runs at an average of 44.75.
Captain Rohit Sharma was absolutely miserable and scored 19 runs in 3 innings while Shubman Gill scored 60 runs in the same number of innings.
Young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 193 runs in 6 innings but 161 of those runs came in one innings while Rishabh Pant he scored only 96 runs.
Talking about the leading batsman Virat Kohli, he scored 126 runs including a century but looked very weak and got out chasing the off stump deliveries several times.
Let's hope the top and middle order do well in this Test – Ravindra Jadeja
Meanwhile, star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja hopes the batsmen will put in a good performance in the fourth Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
“Top runs are very important when you play outside India, especially in Australia and South Africa. When the top order doesn't score, the responsibility and pressure increases on the bottom order,” said Ravindra Jadeja during an interaction at the MCG .
“Hopefully the top order and middle order do well in this Test. As a team, we need the top order to perform. If everyone contributes in the batting unit, the team will do well.”
Good thing we're 1-1 after three Tests – Ravindra Jadeja
The 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy is currently tied at 1-1 and Jadeja wants India to win at least one match to retain the trophy. He stated:
“It's good that we are 1-1 after three tests. The next two games will also be very interesting. If we win even one test, we keep the trophy because we won the last two series.”
Jadeja was not part of India's playing XI in the first two matches but was included in the third Test, where he played a crucial knock of 77 runs. While talking about his selection, Jadeja said:
“I had a few nice days to understand and get used to the conditions. I have been here for so many days, I used to bowl and bat on the tracks here. I got more familiar with the conditions here. All my handwork in the nets helped me in the match and I played according to my plans.”