CHENNAI: When Ravindra Jadeja started off from one end on Sunday morning at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, the very first ball he bowled had enough signs of what to expect. It pitched on the rough outside off-stump, kicked up towards Najmul Hossain Shanto before lobbing in front of forward short-leg.
After three day’s of play, the Chepauk surface had started breaking down and Jadeja knew exactly what was needed. All he had to do was keep bowling into the rough - especially with two left-handers batting - and let the pitch do the rest. It’s muscle memory.
He has been doing it for a decade now - something that has helped him get close to 300 Test wickets in 73 matches.
On Sunday morning, he needed four wickets to get to the landmark and he almost had Shakib Al Hasan when he came back after the initial one over. Jadeja, as he had been doing, pitched it full on sixth stump in the rough, and to counter, Shakib stepped out of the crease. He swinged and missed, the ball bounced more than what Rishabh Pant had expected and he fumbled a stumping chance. Jadeja’s wait to 297th Test wicket continued.
He persisted with the similar lines and lengths and continued to torment Bangladesh batters and Litton Das eventually fell. With R Ashwin closing in on a fifer, Jadeja had to take the remaining three wickets to get to 300.
The first came in the form of Shanto, who had by now given up. Ashwin removed Taskin Ahmed next, and as a result Jadeja was left standing on 299 when he took the final wicket of Hasan Mahmud.
For any team, an 86 with the bat at the time of crisis and five wickets in the match in a 280-run win would have been the top performance. Here, however, he had a partner-in-crime in Ashwin, who scored a century and took six wicket and was the Player of The Match.
That, in essence, sums up the kind of resources India has and how the duo had been the pillars behind India’s impeccable record at home. And it is not just with the ball, but also with the bat.
Since Jadeja’s debut, the India duo has the second-most runs for a lower-order batting pair (7th wicket or more). The only pair to have more runs than them is Shane Dowrich and Jason Holder of West Indies.
Ashwin and Jadeja have consistently pushed and elevated each other’s game over the years, especially with the latter becoming a more prominent batter than the off-spinning all-rounder.
Since 2019, Ben Stokes and Ravindra Jadeja are the only players to have more than 50 wickets and 1000 runs. When India travel overseas, more often than not, Jadeja has become the first-choice spinner for this reason.
Ashwin, after the win against Bangladesh, shared his admiration for the left-hander: “I was batting ahead of him at one stage. And he has actually walked in at No 5 for us several times. Many of these occasions over the last 3-4 years, when he has walked in to bat, I felt so good in the dressing room. You feel so calm and composed when he is batting. He has brought that kind of assurance. Such an inspirational story about how he has found his off-stump, how disciplined he has managed to be. Jadeja, he is a rocket on the field. So, all in all, I envy him. I am jealous of him but totally admire him. I have learnt to admire him for the last 4-5 years, even more than I have in the past.”
“Sometimes, when you are in the race along with your co-cricketers - you are in a race - you compete, you are ambitious, you want to get ahead of one another even inside a team. It's like brothers going in arms. And then you slowly start admiring one another. That admiration has gone one step higher, knowing that I can never beat Jadeja. I am comfortable in my skin but totally inspired by what he has done,” said Ashwin.
This admiration they share is quite mutual, especially in the past few years. Jadeja acknowledged the same ahead of the Rajkot Test against England, when Ashwin was one short of his 500th Test wicket.
Jadeja turns 36 this year, and Ashwin just crossed 38. As things stand, one can never say for sure how long India will have them both together on the field doing what they do. So, as Ashwin does, all you can do is enjoy and admire Jadeja, and his partner Ashwin, every time you get a chance.
