
India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja shed light on the heated exchange of words he had with England skipper Ben Stokes on Day 2 of the Edgbaston Test.
The English players alleged that Jadeja was landing on the danger area of the pitch, leaving footmarks in the process. The hosts felt Jadeja's actions were intentional as Stokes pointed out to the all-rounder, "Look what you have done, mate."
Jadeja defended himself by saying, "But I was coming from here. I won't bowl there anyway. Why would I do that? My focus is on batting?"
In the post-day presser, Jadeja opened up about the on-field conversation he had with Stokes while also claiming that that it wasn't his plan to make rough patches on the surface.
"He feels that I am making it rough for myself. In fact, he was making it rougher by using fast bowlers. I didn't have to make it rough. He was repeatedly telling the umpire that I was running on the wicket. But that was not my intention. I ran here and there a few times. But that was in his mind. Hopefully, if we get a chance tomorrow, we will try to bowl in good areas. And we will try to play as well as we can," Jadeja told reporters.
The England bowlers weren’t able to extract much from the pitch on Day 2 as India skipper Shubman Gill and Jadeja made the most of the ideal batting conditions with a 203-run stand off 279 balls.
Josh Tongue broke the partnership by dismissing Jadeja on 89. However, Gill held the one end firmly and went on to slam his maiden Test double ton in the post-lunch session.
Gill (269) went on to register the highest score by an Indian batter on English soil. As a result, the tourists racked up a mammoth 587/10 in their first innings.
England went to stumps at 77/3, trailing India in the first innings by 510 runs. Akash Deep, replacing Jasprit Bumrah in the XI at Edgbaston, dismissed Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope for ducks while Mohammed Siraj got rid of Zak Crawley on 19.
