RAVINDRA JADEJA BIOGRAPHY
There have been great cricketers in India, but few as universally loved as Ravindra Jadeja, for there has barely been anything ordinary about him: and that has nothing to do with the fact that he owns and rides horses — certainly not the most common hobbies for a contemporary cricketer.
There are numerous avatars of the man on the field. On paper he seems unlikely to take wickets in Test cricket due to his flat trajectory, but Jadeja thrives on accuracy and marginal turn, while darting that infamous straight delivery that comes in at astonishing pace. He often has batsmen misreading the straight delivery, only to see the stumps shattered.
With bat he can be explosive, and has the ability to hit those massive sixes. However, he does not lack patience, as is evident from those gargantuan innings in domestic cricket. Of late he has also developed a habit of brandishing his bat like a sword every time he reaches a landmark, which makes him an even bigger crowd-puller.
Additionally, he is a livewire on the field, especially when he mans point on cover-point: not only does he move with astonishing speed, he also throws down stumps with amazing regularity.
Jadeja was a part of Virat Kohli’s brigade that won the Under-19 World Cup in 2008. He made his IPL debut for Rajasthan Royals later that season. An impressed Shane Warne, captain and coach of the side, hailed him as a ‘rockstar’.
Later that year he slammed 232* against Orissa, adding an unbroken 520 with Cheteshwar Pujara for the fifth wicket. Four seasons later he would add 539 with Sagar Jogiyani against Gujarat. Till then Frank Worrell was the only one to be involved in two 500-run partnerships.
Jadeja was also the first Indian with 3 triple-hundreds. He scored 303* in that Gujarat match. Less than a month later he scored 331 against Railways. A year back he had 314 against Orissa.
In between all this Jadeja had been hammered into oblivion by the Australians in the 2009 World T20. He was hit for six consecutive sixes, off the last three balls in his first over by Shane Watson and off the first three balls of his next over by David Warner.
Those six balls made Jadeja an object of ridicule on social media for a few years. They twisted Chuck Norris and Rajinikanth jokes to ‘troll’ him. ‘Sir Ravindra Jadeja’ was not spared by even his teammates, and that included even MS Dhoni, his captain for India and at Chennai Super Kings.
But Jadeja kept coming back, turning his career around in early 2013 — ironically, against Australia. He took 24 wickets in that series, at 17.45, including the wicket of Michael Clarke 5 times in 3 Tests. Four years down the line he would rout them again, this time with 25 wickets at 18.56.
He went from strength to strength in 2013. He played a stellar role when India won the 2013 Champions Trophy, with 12 wickets at 12.83 and 80 runs without being dismissed at a strike rate of 148. His 25-ball 33* and 2 for 24 won him the Man of the Match award in the final.
He lost form in 2015 and was sent back to domestic cricket. So he responded with 91 and 11 for 72, 58 and 13 for 126, and 13 for 135 in his next 3 matches. There was no stopping him after that: he roared back into the side with 23 wickets at 10.82.
However, Jadeja’s career reached another dimension in the long home season of 2016-17: from 13 Tests he scored 556 runs at 42.76 and took 71 wickets at 22.83. Of all men to have scored 500 in a season, no one has taken as many wickets.
He dismissed Alastair Cook 6 times in 5 Tests during the season. And against England at Chennai Jadeja became the first to score a fifty, take 10 wickets, and hold 4 catches in the same Test.
As the series went on he emerged from the shadows of Ravichandran Ashwin. Towards the end of the season he scaled the No. 1 spot in ICC rankings; of Indians, only Ashwin (904) has bettered Jadeja’s rating of 899.
Abhishek Mukherjee
