Ravindra Jadeja battled pain and scored a quickfire 44 for India. (AP)Ravindra Jadeja’s 23-ball 44 rescued India from 114/6 to reach 161/7 in 20 overs during the first T20I on Friday. Until the 18th over of India’s innings, Jadeja was 12 from as many balls but changed gears as he launched into Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc in the final two overs that yielded 34 runs.
Jadeja began the penultimate over with a boundary but was in some discomfort with a hamstring injury. He even had a check-up with the physio and then returned to take the strike. This is where he cut loose and smashed the next three deliveries for a six and a couple of fours.
Jadeja is the man who always plays crucial innings. Sir Ravindra Jadeja, You a beauty! Now we have a decent total on the scoreboard.❤️👏#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/lDkgyt308J
— UrMiL07™ (@urmilpatel30) December 4, 2020
Continuing to be in pain, he inflicted some of it back on to the Aussies as he picked up the shortish delivery bu Starc and deposited it past deep-square leg with authority.
This shot from Jadeja 👌💉💉#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/eWhTrt6WRw
— 🐣 (@Gautamkumaarr) December 4, 2020
Here is another interesting stat from cricviz, which illustrates how good the left-hander has been for the Indian team this year.
Jadeja T20 Batting:
Before IPL 2020 – SR 123, Balls/6 23.3
Since IPL 2020 – SR 173, Balls/6 12.3
Meanwhile, KL Rahul continued his impressive run in the shortest format with yet another fifty.
The Indian vice-captain hit 51 off 40 balls but leg-spinner Adam Zampa (1/20 in 4 overs) and all-rounder Moises Henriques (3/22 in 4 overs) were brilliant between overs 11th and 15th, which shifted the momentum in favour of the home team till Jadeja came into play.
Also Read | The new and improved Ravindra Jadeja