See Ravindra Jadeja's epic reply to 'out of syllabus' question on Rishabh Pant

His promotion to number four in the batting order against Pakistan was seen as a masterstroke. Ravindra Jadeja topscored with 35 of 29 balls and helped India defeat their arch rivals in the final over of their opener at Asia Cup 2022.

Jadeja arrived at the middle after opener KL Rahul and captain Rohit Sharma got out for nought and 12 respectively. He shared stands of 36 with Suryakumar Yadav and 52 with Hardik Pandya (33 not out) for the fourth and fifth wickets, and stayed there till the final over.

It was a surprising move, as Jadeja was promoted ahead of the classy Yadav and the in-form Pandya. It helped India negate the spin of leggie Shadab Khan and left arm orthodox Mohammad Nawaz, both of whom turn the ball away from the right-hander.


The number four slot is in many matches taken by lefthanded wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant. There are some who believe that by batting lefthander Jadeja higher up, the team management availed the option of benching Pant and fielding 'finisher' Dinesh Karthik.

Jadeja, at a press conference on Tuesday night, was asked whether Pant was left out of the team combination.

But Jadeja was not to be tempted into having a go at that one. His reply was epic: "I don't know anything about that, this question is from outside my book."

See the exchange below.
India take the field again on Wednesday to play Hong Kong in their second Asia Cup 2022 match in Dubai.

India will eye a direct qualification to the Super Four phase, but Hong Kong may be no feather weight - last time the two met, India won only by a mere 26 runs.

Whether go with the same eleven that played the match against Pakistan would be an interesting thing to watch.