Inside out | Ravindra Jadeja passing all litmus tests to establish his 'all-round' rise

Players possessing all-round abilities more often than not get labelled as a master of one trait, while being good enough in the other aspect of the game, to bring massive value addition to their sides. For Ravindra Jadeja, the recognition in either category was difficult, and he could blame no other but himself for not being able to perform consistently and stake a claim on the basis of aspect of his game.

When Jadeja made his Test debut against England in the last Test of the only Test series India have lost on home soil in the near past, he was picked more for his accurate bowling and a bit of batting who could provide support to an out of form batting lineup.

His bowling was not deemed good enough to make him a potent bowler on a flat wicket and although he had a tremendous batting record in the domestic circuit, there were far and few who could trust him to win a game or at least help India in winning a Test match, on any pitch let alone a difficult pitch against champion fast bowlers. He played some freakish innings to defy those critics in his early career, but shining lights were very far and few for the left-hander while his bowling kept on improving.

Real change in his bowling came when Indian team entered the phase of Anil Kumble's coaching and ironically it was against England in the 2016-17 series when Jadeja was seen buying his wicket in a manner such inducing cover drive from the right-hander, beating batsmen in flight which was alien to his style of bowling.

He started enhancing his supremacy in the Indian conditions but doubts about him excelling in both batting and bowling were not to die sooner. But not anymore, and Jadeja now has earned the right of being one of the main players in the India team set up who could play a Test match in any conditions—home or overseas.

The ongoing series against Australia was another litmus test for the all-rounder, by the looks of it till the second day of the third Test, he is passing all the examinations with flying colours. Once belittled as a ‘bits and piece’ cricketer, Jadeja is rising leaps and bounces in both his batting and bowling. Both his batting and bowling were put to test when India needed him in either department in the SCG and the MCG Test.

On the first day of the ongoing SCG Test, captain Ajinkya Rahane was blamed for overlooking Jadeja for the most part of the day, as he could not look beyond the tempting duo of Bumrah and Ashwin, who accounted for Smith in the previous three innings of the Test series. Twitter was enraged over the delayed deployment of Jadeja in the bowling attack, and lack of success from Ashwin made way for his entry in the bowling attack. He was on the money from the ball one in his signature style, but that India desperately needed him to come good must have crossed his mind, and the challenger in him took the game head-on. 

His first over yielded a mere four runs with three overs as maidens. He was successful in building up the pressure on the Australian batsman Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschnage, but with only Bumrah and Ashwin being the experienced pros in the team, and both of them going wicketless till that point in time, the situation demanded more from Jadeja than just holding one end up as they were no Shami and Ishant to provide India with the breakthroughs. 

A big success in the form of Labuschagne’s wicket came his and India’s way completely against the run of play, and then Bumrah got back in the groove with two quick wickets to put India ahead in the proceedings. You don’t expect your spinners to run through a side in overseas Tests, and they are required to chip in for a couple of breakthroughs when a big partnership is on, and Jadeja did the job brilliantly.

By the end of Australia's innings, Jadeja emerged as the leading wicket-taker (four) for India on a pitch that provided him little assistance. He was smart enough to understand why Ashwin struggled to pick wickets apart from an aggressive approach adopted against him by the Australians and read the pitch well to assess that his ideal pace of bowling is suited to a slow but bouncy SCG pitch.

Just like the second day of the SCG Test, India needed Jadeja to shine on the second day of the last Test at the MCG as well. This time, however, the desired role could only have been fulfilled in a different avatar. All-rounders are tested almost every game when they are asked to step up one part of their game in certain situations, while the next moments of the game would need their brilliance in other departments. Showing signs of his better technique as a batsman, Jadeja batted with impeccable control against Cummins, Hazlewood, and Starc.

Jadeja has had success with the bat on overseas tours like at the Lord’s in 2014, and at the same SCG in the last series, but those innings were built on belligerence and taking calculated risks. His strokeplay could have gone either way and may well have left India in the lurch, but at the MCG, Jadeja brought a better and different version of himself with the bat. He was calm and assured outside the off-stump as Australian pacers kept on teasing him outside the off stump. He trusted his defence to fight out the tough period, unlike his previous successful innings where he had successfully hit out of the tough phases of the game. 

The innings at the MCG  and the partnership with Ajinkya Rahane steered India past the Australian score in a much-measured manner and also established the coming of age of Ravindra Jadeja, the batsman.

This Indian team under the leadership of Virat Kohli has taken various leaps and bounces in terms of fitness and stepping up their games on the field, and Ravindra Jadeja is arguably one of the best poster boy of the team as Virat called before the start of the ongoing Test series as ‘New India.’ 

The team has changed a lot in its cultures, and although they have not won the series in England, South Africa, and England under Virat, there were definite signs of improvements and the Indian bowlers kept the opposition batsmen always under the pump while their run on home turfs have been brutal domination against all teams, except the one game against Australia in Pune in 2017 series. 

Jadeja’s name will be on the top of the list who have excelled over the years and improved their game big time to look a complete finished package and perform in a manner expected out of him when he was initially picked in the Indian team and India will need a lot more of such performances in the ongoing Sydney Test as well as in matches coming ahead to keep their march going forward.

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