CHENNAI: First things first. Over the last few years, Ravindra Jadeja, the white-ball batter, has grown leaps and bounds. Since the start of 2019, he averages 42.27 in ODIs and 48.71 in T20Is (SR 140.32) At the same time, his bowling in limited-overs hasn’t been the same. While an average of 57.85 since January 2019 does pose questions over his role in ODIs, in T20Is he is a decent operator (avg 23.94, 6.79 economy).
Which shifts the focus to his role in the T20I side. A batting all-rounder who saves 10-15 runs on the field at will? Sure. But Dinesh Karthik returning to the side has raised the significance of Jadeja's role. Up until the Asia Cup, he had little role to play with the bat on a day where all went well. With Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya forming the middle-order, Jadeja was often batting at No 7/8.
That said, if Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul are the top three, India might not be able to play Karthik and Pant. Which means, Jadeja is the only southpaw in the top seven and has to be used as a floater to counter match-ups. That is exactly what happened on Sunday against Pakistan. With a left-arm spinner and a leg-spinner to counter, Jadeja was promoted to No 4 and he scored a 29-ball 35, playing a vital role in helping India end on the right side of the result in the last-over finish.
The interesting thing, however, is the fact that the all-rounder has been asked to do a role that is not his strong suit. Since 2019, he has batted at a SR of 87.86 against spin in T20s (off-spin 60.86, leg spin 74.54, left-arm spin 138.23) and 159.04 against pace. To put into context, in the same period, Pant has batted at a SR 125.33 versus spin (100+ SR against all three types).
And the partnership between Jadeja and Suryakumar indicated the same where both were struggling to regain momentum. But, in the end, Jadeja finished with 16 runs off 13 balls against the spinners. It wasn’t exactly the kind of domination one would expect from a match-up but given the target they had, it worked well for India on Sunday.
It is no secret that India have been experimenting with their team combinations over the past few months. However, it would be interesting to see how the Jadeja move would work when they are batting first or chasing a big total. When asked if the trend would continue, Jadeja said on Tuesday that it would be the team management’s call based on each team’s bowling attack. With several T20Is to be played in the lead up to the World Cup, time will tell if Jadeja is able to pull it off consistently or India finds a way to fit Pant in the XI.