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Former India cricketer Ajay Jadeja has showered praise on England’s Harry Brook and compared the swashbuckling batter to India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant.England were faltering at 106 for 3 following the loss of stand-in captain Ollie Pope, but the Yorkshire pair of Brook (111) and Root (105) turned the tide with a fourth-wicket stand of 195.“Such players might not score runs every time, but when they do, they leave a massive impact. He reminded me of Rishabh Pant today. There was one thing common between him and Rishabh Pant — both are impactful, and their bats go flying. Their styles are similar, so their mistakes and impact will also look similar,” Jadeja said on Sony Sports.
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Brook made an immediate impact when he came out to bat on Sunday, at one stage hitting 27 runs in the space of eight balls.The talented 26-year-old charged down the pitch to loft Akash Deep for an extraordinary six over cover, despite heavy cloud cover in London favouring India’s quicks.He almost holed out to fine leg off Prasidh Krishna, but Mohammed Siraj was unable to stop himself from stepping onto the boundary rope, which meant a six for Brook.Brook completed a 91-ball century, including 12 fours and two sixes — his second of the series — but his innings ended in appropriately spectacular fashion.“Brook remains the same. He doesn’t change his game. Washington Sundar left him standing halfway down the pitch in the last match. This is the thing with these players. They might not be as consistent as Joe Root every day, but a team needs them too. In difficult circumstances, only mavericks come in handy,” Jadeja said.Going for another big hit off Deep, Brook’s bat flew out of his hands. As the blade soared towards square leg, the ball looped to mid-off, where Siraj held the catch.
“At the start, he dominated and put the pressure that was on them back on the bowlers. Then, as soon as the atmosphere cooled slightly and they gained control, he kept playing in his own style, and his partnership with Joe Root left England on the threshold,” he said.“The pressure they faced in the last half an hour — if they had to play for half an hour like that when 250 runs were required — the bowlers would always have hope. He broke the bowlers’ hopes in that half an hour, and then we kept waiting for the next two hours, wondering what would happen next,” Jadeja added.
