MANCHESTER: Six years ago, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was in the middle of an improbable chase at Old Trafford. The match, spread over two days, kept every Indian fan hooked to their TV sets as Jadeja and MS Dhoni tried hard to take their team over the line against New Zealand in the World Cup semifinal.
India were reduced to 92/6 when the Saurashtra cricketer joined his Chennai Super Kings captain Dhoni in pursuit of a 240-run target. They slowly rebuilt the innings and were looking on course for scripting an unbelievable win for India when Jadeja got out after scoring 77 off 59. Dhoni perished soon after and India lost the match by 18 runs.
It was kind of deja vu for Indian fans when they once witnessed Jadeja striving for an unlikely victory against England in the third Test at Lord's on Day Five. The format was different and so were the opponents but Jadeja's mission remained the same - an improbable win from the jaws of defeat. Unfortunately, the script remained the same as both India and Jadeja once again finished on the losing side.
The 36-year-old southpaw, who has played 83 Tests so far scoring 3697 runs and accounting for 326 wickets, is at the fag end of his career. Having made his Test debut against the same opponents in 2012 in Nagpur, Jadeja is a player almost every captain would want in his team.
He is effortless while batting — economical with his trigger movements — and reacts to the ball. He doesn't believe in premeditating shots. Instead, he prefers going by the books. With the ball in his hand, he can be the one who can repeatedly hit the good length for hours. He can deliver countless overs in no time and has the ability to contain the flow of runs from one end. Besides, he is an outstanding fielder across formats.
The unbeaten knock of 61 that he played at Lord's was his fourth half-century in a row. India had seemingly lost the match even before lunch but it was Jadeja who kept them in the contest. At 112/8 when the teams dispersed, the all-rounder only had Nos. 10 and 11 — Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj — for company. Since then, he kept the team's hope alive for more than 35 overs taking the match, which could have finished soon after the lunch, into the last session of the day. Agreed, Bumrah faced 54 and Siraj played 30 out of those more than 210 deliveries but Jadeja himself faced more than 30 overs in the day to keep India in the hunt.
He is one of the most valuable players in India. The experience that he brings in, the skill set that he brings with his bowling, batting and fielding is very rare. And the kind of composure that he showed today, it was just tremendous to watch. Batting with the lower order of the tail has been one of the things that we spoke about in the previous two matches. That our lower order hasn't been contributing as much. But I think the character and the courage that they showed was tremendousShubman Gill, India captain
And if that was his role in the second innings, Jadeja was the reason why India managed to equal England's first essay total. Quick wickets of Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul before and after lunch meant Shubman Gill and Co were in danger of another collapse but Jadeja held the innings together.
He first added 72 runs for the sixth wicket with Nitish Kumar Reddy and then added 50 runs for the seventh wicket with Washington Sundar as he scored 72 off 131 balls. Besides, he also got the wicket of Ollie Pope in the first innings. With 327 runs from three matches, he is now fifth on the list of leading scorers of the series. His batting average of 109 is currently best among the run getters.
But in sports, an athlete is usually remembered for his match-winning performances. Unluckily, Jadeja, despite his immense talent and numerous brilliant on field shows, doesn't have that one timeless epic in India whites. Be it Manchester or Lord's, it has always been a story of 'so near yet so far' for the premier all-rounder.