“When you are on 195-196, then you think twice” - Dinesh Karthik backs Team India’s declaration with Ravindra Jadeja on 175*

Wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik has backed Rohit Sharma's decision to declare India's first innings on Day 2 in Mohali against Sri Lanka despite Ravindra Jadeja batting on 175.

India declared their innings at 574 for 8 in the 130th over on Saturday just before the end of the second session. Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami (20*) had added 103-run for the 9th wicket when Rohit called the players in.

Some fans on social media were not pleased with the declaration as they felt Jadeja had been robbed of a double hundred. Defending the decision to bring the Indian innings to a close, Karthik said during a discussion on Cricbuzz:

“When a decision like that is taken on a team front, you always feel that it is fine unless you are on 195-196. When you are on 175, it's a different one altogether. When you are on 195-196, then you think twice. Other than that, as a captain or coach, you are not thinking too much about individual glory."

"You are trying to think how much time do we have, how many wickets do we want to pick, and how much time do we want to give ourselves.”

Karthik went on to state that he is not surprised by Ravindra Jadeja’s success at the international level. Pointing out to the 33-year-old’s excellent domestic record with the bat, the keeper-batter added:

“Not many people realize that Jadeja’s credentials as a batter are phenomenal in Ranji Trophy. I cannot think of anybody who has scored three triple hundreds. When I see Jadeja bat, when I see what he has achieved today, it doesn’t come as a surprise at all."

"He has taken off phenomenally since the 2019 World Cup. Towards the end, he was unstoppable at that World Cup and since then, he has not looked back. He has been a different player.”

The left-hander needed only 228 balls for his 175* in Mohali. He slammed 17 fours and three sixes and finished his innings with a strike rate of 76.

“A five-fer is round the corner” - Dinesh Karthik on Ravindra Jadeja’s bowling

After his exploits with the bat, Ravindra Jadeja impressed with the ball as well. He claimed the big wicket of Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne (28) and kept troubling the batters throughout his spell. Speaking about the left-arm spinner’s bowling, Karthik said:

“This game is about confidence. I don’t think anybody is going to be more confident than Jadeja at the moment. He is bowling in such a way that a five-fer is round the corner. The way the ball is coming out of his hand, with the kind of revs that it is giving, he is going to cause problems not only to right-handers but left-handers as well as the game rolls on.”

Sri Lanka ended Day 2 of the Mohali Test at 108/4, trailing India by 466 runs.