Ravindra Jadeja scored a 51-ball 56 against Andhra on Sunday.
In an ideal world, Ravindra Jadeja would have been in Cape Town on Sunday evening, boarding that flight back to India. Instead, he finds himself toiling hard in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy for Saurashtra. He’s not complaining. In fact, he seems to be relishing every bit of cricket he’s getting under his belt.
An irritable side strain may have hampered his bowling. However, it’s his batting — backed by some nimble footwork and lusty hitting — that has played a key role in his team’s march into the final. Against Andhra, in a crunch semi-final game at the Feroz Shah Kotla, Jadeja bailed Saurashtra out of trouble after a top-order collapse, with an aggressive 51-ball 56. His 113-run partnership for the 5th wicket with Arpit Vasavada took the Cheteshwar Pujara-led side to 255, which proved to be a match-winning tally. The half-century had come on the back of a spectacular 116-ball 113 Jadeja had stroked in a league fixture against Jharkhand last week, which helped Saurashtra in chasing down an improbable target of 330.
Jadeja’s impressive run with the bat in this tournament does not come as a surprise. He has been a batting mainstay for his state side, fulfilling his role as a lower middle-order batsman for some time now. In fact, the all-rounder is famous for his gargantuan triple centuries in Ranji Trophy. What stands out about his impressive run with the bat are the circumstances under which he has managed to orchestrate them. The 29-year-old had finished 2017 as the fifth highest wicket-taker in Tests, with 54 scalps from 10 games. His low arm trajectory and quick pivot, further validated that on rough, abrasive tracks at home, he was not only handful, but also deadly. “He is the best spinner on Indian tracks,” Sitanshu Kotak, the Saurashtra coach had once remarked.
A month later, under far more alien conditions in South Africa, Jadeja found himself warming the bench for the entire duration of the three Test series. When the limited overs leg of that tour began, he was dropped from the squad altogether, paving the way for the preferred wrist spin combination of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal.
To make matters worse, on his return to India, a side strain would prevent him from bowling. Any other player would have happily decided to take time away from the game and recuperate. But Jadeja wanted to be in the thick of action. Perhaps, the time in South Africa would have made him yearn for some valuable time in the middle. When the opportunity presented itself in Vijay Hazare, he made it count with his batting. The Saurashtra team management, too, used his services smartly, by promoting their premier all-rounder up the order. His match-winning effort with the bat on Sunday won him praise from coach Kotak. “Jadeja has been advised not to bowl for three weeks by the team physio due to a side strain. Despite this, he has shown excellent commitment. In a league game against Jharkhand, he batted through pain to score a century and win the match for us. His injury was a concern for us, but he has responded for us pretty well. He wanted to play all the games, but we were constantly monitoring him and made sure he did not aggravate his injury.”
Despite a fairly profitable run with the bat in domestic cricket, Jadeja has rarely managed to replicate it in international cricket. In 35 Tests, he averages a shade under 30, with a three-figure mark eluding him. In ODIs and T20s too, his numbers have been underwhelming, and consequently his traditional sword-twirls have become few and far in between. The primary reason for the below-par numbers is that he generally bats down the order. However, in those fleeting instances when an opportunity presented itself, he blew them away with inexplicable shot selections. Jadeja could make an impact with the bat for his IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings if he can continue the stellar batting form he has showcased in Vijay Hazare.
In fact, MS Dhoni, his CSK captain, had hinted that the all-rounder would get more opportunities with the bat in the upcoming edition. Dhoni’s words might have spurred Jadeja to take his batting more seriously. The fact that has not featured in the blue India jersey since July 2017 would rankle him. He could use his batting as the weapon to put him back in the reckoning in both ODIs and T20s — formats where wrist spinners Yadav and Chahal have stolen a march over him and Ravichandran Ashwin in recent times with their superlative performances.
Either Yadav or Chahal have featured in the 21 ODIs since the Champions Trophy in June 2017. This further suggests how much Ashwin and Jadeja had fallen off the radar with respect to the shorter formats. Ashwin, bolstered with a County stint last year, has added leg-spin to his wide repertoire. The two will get their chance to dazzle when the IPL begins in April.
Brief Scores: Saurashtra 255 in 49.1 overs (R Jadeja 56 off 51 balls, A Vasavada 58 off 59, C Pujara 17 off 53); Andhra 196 in 45.3 overs (B Sumath 42, Dharmendra Jadeja 4/40).
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