Ravindra Jadeja – The guy you cannot afford to ‘write-off’

Ravindra Jadeja – The guy you cannot afford to ‘write-off’: You can criticise him, you can bench him, you can sideline him, but you CANNOT write him off.

Ravindrasinh Anirudhsihn Jadeja had received a lot of flak from every nook and corner.

However, the Indian legend, Sunil Gavaskar had said in March 2013 that Ravindra Jadeja, was a role model for youngsters.

Ravindra Jadeja had a wonderful performance in Ranji Trophy 2012-13, in which, playing in just five games (eight innings), Ravindra Jadeja had amassed 794 runs at an average of 113.42 and scored his personal best of 331 (707m, 501b, 29*4, 7*6), against Railways, at the Saurashtra Cricket Stadium in December 2012. He also had two centuries and two half-centuries to his credit.

Speaking to reporters on Ravindra Jadeja’s performance, Debu Mitra, the coach of Saurashtra for more than a decade, had said, “I’ve seen all the three triple-centuries scored by Jadeja. Though this one was played on a slightly batting-friendly pitch, it was easily the best because it was made when the bowlers were on top and Saurashtra were in trouble”.

“It was a fantastic innings. This is Group A, with some of the best teams. And Railways are no pushovers. I think almost right through the first day the Railways bowlers dominated the proceedings. You can see that from Saurashtra’s score, too – 227 for 4 in 90 overs. But Sunday belonged to Jadeja.”

In fact Ravindra Jadeja is the eighth batsman and the first Indian to score three triple centuries in First-class cricket.

Ravindra Jadeja’s first triple-century came in the game against Orissa, playing at the Barabati Stadium. Cuttack, in November, 2011. In that match, Ravindra Jadeja went on to score 314 (558m, 375b, 29*4, 98*6) in the team’s total tally of 545 runs.

The second triple-ton came in the match against Gujarat at Lalabhai Contractor Stadium, Surat, in November 2012. Ravindra Jadeja scored an unbeaten 303 (561m, 37*4, 4*6).

This performance of Ravindra Jadeja caught the attention of the selectors and he was included in the 15 member squad for the fourth Test against England at Nagpur in December 2012.

Making his debut, Ravindra Jadeja scored 12 (31m, 31b, 2*4) in the only inning that India batted. Ravindra Jadeja returned with a bowling figure of 37-17-58-2 and 33-17-59-1 in the two innings.

Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2012-13 played at home was a ‘dream outing’ for this 26-year old all-rounder.

With the bat, his performance had been pretty mediocre, scoring 85 runs in 5 innings with 43 as the highest.

His bowling performance was impeccable and he went on to pick up 23 wickets in eight innings. His best bowling performance has been in the second innings of the fourth and final Test, when Ravindra Jadeja returned with the figure of 16-2-58-5 that led India to a 6-wicket victory. Jadeja was adjudged the ‘Player of the Match’, his first award in Tests.

Ravindra Jadeja’s contributions in India’s 4–0 Test series win over Australia in that series was highly praised. The former Indian skipper, Sunil Gavaskar called him one of the architects of the win. Jadeja’s dominance over the then Aussie skipper, Michael Clarke was also highly praised.

Even though he was a part of the Test squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2014-15, Ravindra Jadeja did not get to play in any game.

Ravindra Jadeja was not considered for the lone Test against Bangladesh in June 2015 and also for the three-Test series against Sri Lanka.

Snubbed by the national selectors, Ravindra Jadeja turned towards the domestic circuit, Ranji Trophy 2015-16 to prove his mettle.

Playing for Saurashtra, he has performed exceedingly well with both bat and ball. His achievements in bowling have been the highlight of this season’s trophy.

Ravindra Jadeja has played in three matches and has picked 37 wickets at an average of 9 and a strike rate of 22.3. Ravindra Jadeja has picked a minimum of five wickets in all six innings and a minimum of ten wickets in all the three matches.

In the first game against Tripura played at Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground, Rajkot, Jadeja scored 91 (190m, 138b, 11*4) in the only innings that he batted. Ravindra Jadeja picked up 6 wickets, giving away 27 runs in 27.1 overs in the first innings and another 5 wickets, giving away 45 runs in his spell of 25 overs.

In the second match played at the same venue against Jharkhand, he scored 58 (11m, 75b, 7*4, 1*6) in the first innings but did not get to bat, the second one. He bowled just two overs in the first innings and went wicketless.

In the second innings, he picked up 7 wickets, giving away 55 runs in his 25-over spell.

In the third game that he played, in this season, against Hyderabad at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot, Jadeja scored just 2 runs (5m, 5b) in the first knock and 3 runs (15m, 10b) in the second one.

However, with the ball, he had taken 6/75 in the first innings and returned with the figure of 20-2-60-7 in the second.

In the three games, Jadeja has scored 154 runs in the four innings that he batted, with 91 as his personal best. His bowling performance has been brilliant, with him taking 31 wickets in six innings. It is only on one occasion that he went wicketless.

Jadeja’s scintillating performance has earned him a place in the Indian squad for the first two Tests against South Africa in the ongoing Gandhi-Mandela series.

On the announcement of the Indian Test squad against the visiting Proteas, a lot of criticisms were floated around the inclusion of Jadeja. The logic forwarded was that being dropped post the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2014-15, he had not played a single Test match to prove his form in the longer format.

However, the ‘five wise men’ in BCCI took into consideration his performance in the ongoing Ranji Trophy and evinced confidence on him. This move was also duly supported by the Team India Test skipper, Virat Kohli and the Team India Director, Ravi Shastri.

Jadeja clearly did not disappoints anyone. On the contrary, he silenced all his critics with a ‘mind-blowing’ performance in the first Test played at Mohali that got over in under three days’ time, giving a victory to Team India that helped them go up 1-0 in the four-Test series.

Scoring 38 runs (112m 92b, 4*4) in the first knock and 8 runs (23m, 24b, 1*4) in the second, he created havoc with the ball on a ‘spin-friendly’ track.

Returning with the figures of 18-0-55-3 in the first innings and 11.5-4-21-5 in the second, he finished the match with a tally of 8 wickets. He put all his experience and recent form into play and proved to be the catalyst for the Indian victory.

Ravindra Jadeja was awarded the Player of the Match. This is the second time that he has won this award in a Test.

Speaking at the post-match presentation, Jadeja said, “We played on turning tracks at Rajkot (in Ranji) so I had confidence about my bowling, I worked hard this season, I was bowling in the nets for hours, this was my comeback game I was looking to play positive, I scored three fifties in domestic as well, it has been a pressure game for me, I was trying to prove myself again, so I am really happy.”

So this man is here to stay. Here is a guy whom you cannot afford to write off.