Jadeja scored a crucial half-century in the 3rd ODI against Australia.
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has appreciated the crucial role of Ravindra Jadeja in the 3rd ODI of the series against Australia. However, he still has some expectations from the all-rounder with the ball.
Team India was reeling at 152-5 when Jadeja joined Hardik Pandya in the middle and the duo took the side past 300 with a 150-run stand in 18 overs. The southpaw scored 66 runs off 50 balls and gave India the momentum going into the second innings.
Sanjay Manjrkar told Sony Six, "Today, the last 3-4 overs, he was really smart about where he was scoring. Jadeja anticipated the ball well and I loved the fact he was able to score on the off-side, leg-side."
"I thought he also took some pressure off Hardik Pandya, one of his best one-day innings we have seen in a long time. Only because of his flourish with the bat with Pandya, India was able to compete," he added.
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However, Manjrekar is concerned with Jadeja's performance with the all. The all-rounder picked just1 wicket in the 3 ODIs and conceded runs at a rate of 6 RPO.
He continued, "I want him to pick more wickets with the ball. I have said this about Jadeja a lot in the last one year, there's been a steady improvement in the way he has been batting, but his bowling needs to improve a bit more to win matches for India."
Before concluding his statements on the all-rounder, Manjrekar quickly went back to his batting performance in the 3rd ODI and appreciated the performance.
"But purely on his batting performance today, hats off, brilliant," Manjrekar said.
Ravindra Jadeja will now be a part of the T20I series starting from Friday, December 4.
(With inputs from India Today)