Playing for Leicestershire in the warm-up four-day match between the county side and India, Navdeep Saini delivered a beautiful delivery to dismiss Ravindra Jadeja for a duck in the morning session on Saturday. Saini, who is travelling with the Indian side as a net bowler, was the most impressive bowler on display. He had already dismissed India opener Shubman Gill towards the end of day 2 and on day 3, he got rid of Gill's opening partner KS Bharat after he had made 43. Saini, however, reserved his best for Jadeja who made his way into the centre after Bharat's departure.
India were 118 for 3 when Jadeja was promoted to bat at number 5 with the hope of getting a score after a disappointing outing in first innings. On the very second delivery of Jadeja's innings, Saini dished out a snorter of a delivery that landed on a good length area and seamed away just enough to catch the outside edge of Jadeja's bat.
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Jadeja had no answer to the brilliance of Saini. He had to take the long walk back as Leicestershire opening batter Louis Kimber completed the catch at second slip. It was Saini’s third wicket for the day.
{{/usCountry}}Jadeja had no answer to the brilliance of Saini. He had to take the long walk back as Leicestershire opening batter Louis Kimber completed the catch at second slip. It was Saini’s third wicket for the day.
{{/usCountry}}Jadeja, however, walked out to bat again when Cheteshwar Pujara was dismissed by Sai Kishore for 22. This being a warm-up match, a few Indian players are playing for Leicestershire while the others are allowed to bat and ball for both sides.
At tea on day 3, India were 267/7 with Virat Kohli unbeaten on 58 and Jadeja batting for the third time in this match, was on 5. India are gearing up for the Birmingham Test match starting on July 1. This will be treated as the fifth Test of the series which India are leading 2-1. The fifth Test was supposed to take place in Manchester last year but was postponed due to Covid-19 concerns.