Until Friday, it may be said that N. Jagadeesan had a lacklustre domestic season with Tamil Nadu. He played only two matches and batted lower down the order in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, and had meagre returns in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Even in the ongoing Ranji Trophy, he didn’t substantially score batting at No. 7 and 8 versus Gujarat and didn’t get to bat at all versus Tripura. He felt relieved with his effort as an opener in the first innings of the third-round match versus Railways.
“When they told me that I’m gonna open the innings, I was really happy. I’m just happy that Sai (Kishore) had the faith in me to make me open,” he said after the first day’s play on Friday.
Despite a good white-ball season last year, Jagadeesan hasn’t seemingly been an integral part of both the white-ball and red-ball setup for Tamil Nadu. His lean patch in the Vijay Hazare Trophy doesn’t help his cause either. Speaking about dealing with the insecurity of his status in the team, he said: “It’s definitely a big mental battle, to be honest. Because, things are not the same like last year. The coach is different, everybody is different. People have different opinions and can be a bit judgmental at times.
“But I think it was very clear in my head that I shouldn’t take anything personally. And that it was up to me and no one else. Because, two (domestic) tournaments have just gone by. And it was just about going out and expressing myself and not worrying about getting dropped or not scoring runs. Might as well get dropped by showing intent.
“After last year, since the first match of this season, I don’t know for what reason there has been an axe over my head. But again, there’s nothing more to lose than to worry about things that are uncontrollable and going out and being defensive, playing tight. That’s not my game as well. If somebody wants to axe you, might as well go out and throw your heart (play your heart out).”
