R Ashwin says media does not ‘appreciate’ Ravindra Jadeja and he is ‘more gifted’ cricketer than off-spinner himself | Cricket News
On Thursday during the first ODI between India and England Ravindra Jadeja has scalped three wickets. The English batters were squezzed the left-armer. His spell effectively changed the momentum of the innings, and it is not the only time Jadeja delivers a performance which derails the oppostion innings.
Jadeja has made it a habit of being efficent in the middle overs of a 50-over game regardless of wickets helping him or not. Former Indian off-spinner would go on to say the media does not “appreciate” Jadeja and he is also “more gifted” cricketer than Ashwin himself.
“Our media fails to appreciate when a player does well. Whenever we lose, everyone becomes a villain. He dismissed Joe Root (in the 1st IND vs ENG ODI). Jadeja goes always under the radar. He is a “Jackpot Jango”. He is +10 in the field, also bowls well and bats in pressure situations as well. We don’t give Jadeja enough credit,” he said on his YouTube channel in the show Ash Ki baat.
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Ashwin (765 wickets) is the second highest wicket-tacker for India behind Anil Kumble (953 wickets). In the show co-host Vimal Kumar when asks about Jadeja getting closer to Ashwin himself he would respond : “Jadeja is way more gifted than I ever can. He is a born athlete. His major advantages lie in his physical fitness. He is naturally fit. Even at this age, he can cover the entire area from long on to deep square leg while standing at mid-wicket. I wouldn’t be surprised. And I will be more than happy for him.”
Jadeja is currently on 600 international wickets fifth in the all time l for India behind Kapil Dev (707 wickets) and Harbhajan Singh (697 wickets).
In addition to his bowling, Jadeja has also been quite an effective lower order bat both in white-ball cricket and red-ball cricket. Though the performances in the shorter-format have taken a dip in recent times but in longer format of the game Jadeja has become increasingly relaible for the last few years and has been among the best batters both home and way while the top-order batters have struggled for runs.
