In post-Ashwin era, Ravindra Jadeja has to carry burden of spin-bowling allrounder

There was a moment when Ravindra Jadeja was walking back after hitting a game-saving 77 that’s worth freezing. R Ashwin, who a day later would announce his shock international retirement and fly back to India, was then at the dugout, that is out in the open the stands at the Gabba. He would lean across, tap Jadeja and beam a smile; Jadeja would nod his head and walk through to the tunnel. What would have happened had he not hit that 77, especially after such a below-par bowling performances where his usually-impeccable control deserted him on the big stage. A poor performance with both bat and ball could have made matters tricky. Would it have affected Ashwin’s retirement decision, considering his wife said the final call was made that evening. Even if it didn’t, would the Indian management try harder to persuade Ashwin to stay back for Sydney, where now Jadeja has inked himself as the main spinner-allrounder spot?
On such little big moments, wheels of a fascinating career can turn and run. Under pressure, especially when his spot is under question, Jadeja has seldom failed in the last half-a-decade or so. The Brisbane batting effort was quite remarkable, actually. In the days before the game, there were no signs from the nets that he would be playing in the Test. He had hardly bowled or batted much. It was Washington Sundar, and to an extent Ashwin who had done the hard yards. Jadeja would be sat under the tent at the far end of the session. Couple of days before the game, he turned his arm over a bit, but didn’t bat much. On the optional training day, a day for the game, he didn’t bowl but batted a bit against some net bowlers. It raises a question about the thought process of the team management: when and why did they decide that neither Sundar nor Ashwin shouldn’t be playing.
Admirable tenacity
But it also turns the spotlight on Jadeja’s admirable tenacity. Just consider viewing his batting performance through another prism: Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma couldn’t cope and even Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal made mental errors. And Rishabh Pant couldn’t play the long waiting game. Kohli had sweated hard at the nets, trying a tweak or two. Rohit Sharma had given up his Adelaide method of standing outside the crease. Jadeja was sitting under the nets watching; that was his prep. And in the middle, admittedly the ball had gone softer, he didn’t tinker anything with his game, that has become rock solid overseas since the tour of England in 2018. In some ways, he was playing from memory even, but such is the compactness in his uncluttered mind and game that he prospered. Under immense pressure of match situation and his first-innings bowling non-performance.
India’s Ravindra Jadeja raises his bat as he celebrates after scoring fifty runs during play on day four of the third Test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane. (AP Photo)
Every now and then during his knock, he and Nathan Lyon chatted away amicably, and the conversation continued for a long while on the final day at the Indian dugout after rain intervened during India’s innings. During his knock, though, not all Australians were chuffed with him. There was an instance when he pulled out from strike just as Cummins was about to get into his load-up routine to release a ball. Jadeja explained his reason but Cummins wasn’t happy, flailing his arms at the umpire. Cummins rushed back to his run-up, his passions clearly unspent, waved his arms to pull out a man from slip and send him to deep square-leg. Promptly a bouncer arrived that Jadeja swayed away from and he smiled at Cummins. For the next few overs, Jadeja chatted amicably with Lyon and smiled at the pacemen. As always, he talked with the umpires.
A solid temperament
Somehow, incredibly, he has this temperament that allows him to stay in his chilled-bubble, be himself, and not get drawn into opposition’s dark moods. One can think of a few players who might have either worked up to their own detriment or visibly get charged up to use the reactions to motivate themselves to prove a point – Jadeja doesn’t do all that. He just continues to do what he has been doing. Occasionally, as he once did memorably in a ODI world cup semi-final to point his bat to his then critic Sanjay Manjrekar who had called him ‘bits-and-pieces’. Even that, he would explain to this newspaper his reaction in a humorous way: “Tab toh Bhatta garam tha, na! (The grill was hot, then!) I was searching for the commentary box. Then I thought, it must be somewhere there, only. And those who understand would know who I was targeting the celebration at!”
Otherwise, usually, he has shown his emotions more off the field than on the field. He has tweeted something in an emotional mood, and deleted a couple of times and stuff like that. But rarely has he got himself worked up too often on the field. It was a Test in 2018 at Oval when he made 86 after India were struggling at 160 for 6 that changed his mindset forever. “That Test changed everything for me. Poora (complete) game. My performance, my confidence, everything. When you score in English conditions against the best bowling attack, it greatly impacts your confidence. It makes you feel your technique is good enough to score anywhere in the world.”
Until that game, for nearly 18 months when he couldn’t get a game, he said he was often going through sleepless nights. In that chat with The Indian Express, he had described that phase of dark nights thus: “Honestly, those one-and-a-half years were filled with sleepless nights. Through that phase, I remember I would be up till 4-5 am. I would be thinking about what to do, how am I going to bounce back? I couldn’t sleep. I would be lying down but jaaga hi rehta tha (was awake only). I was in the Test squad but not playing as we played a lot overseas. I wasn’t playing ODIs. I wasn’t playing domestic too as I would be travelling with the Indian team though not playing. I wasn’t getting any opportunity to prove myself. I would keep thinking about how I am going to come back.” Then that Oval Test happened, career and life turned. His batting had become so good, and his bowling improved even overseas, that he went ahead of Ashwin in the pecking order.
And now, Ashwin has retired. Who would have thought a decade or so back – Ashwin made his Test debut in 2011,Jadeja a year later- that it would be Ravindra Jadeja who would outlast the best off spinner in modern-day cricket.
Not only a natural talent, but someone who has worked hard at fine-tuning his game to become the great inspiring survivor of our times.

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