Ravindra Jadeja made a huge statement of intent after playing the best innings of his test career so far. The 33 year old from Saurashtra made 175 not out in the first test at Mohali against Sri Lanka and also claimed 9 wickets with the ball. He has shown his growth as a batsman in the longest format of the game and has been winning admirers left, right and centre. While Jadeja has been praise for his batting, there is one Indian legend who feels that this is not the best innings played by Jadeja in his test career so far.
The story as it happened –
Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir is known to make some outlandish statements. The two time world cup winner who formed a great opening partnership with Sehwag in the late 2000’s and early 2010’s, was part of many memorable moments with the Indian team. While speaking on the host broadcaster Star Sports channel, the former Indian opener said the 175 not out from Jadeja is not his best innings. Gambhir said “I feel the innings Ravindra Jadeja played in Australia or the knocks he has played outside India, he will get more confidence from that. Stats can be very misleading, There was a time after the century where he was just milking – Dhananjaya de Silva, (Charith) Asalanka and (Lasith) Embuldeniya were bowling but if you talk about Australia or England, the 40 or 50-run contributions there are probably much more important than this innings”
A match to remember for Jadeja –
Jadeja was playing test cricket after a long while, he was in good form with the bat during the recently concluded T20 series against Sri Lanka. Off-late the 33 year old has been riddled with injury concerns. Jadeja who scored a test century way back in 2018 against West Indies at his home ground in Saurashtra, scored his 2nd test ton. Jadeja has scored 3 domestic triple centuries which earned him the moniker Sir. In the Mohali test he resumed on day 2 in the 40’s and swiftly scored a 50. He then went to 100 in quick time before he started to go after the Sri Lankan bowlers. He scored an unbeaten 175 off 228 balls with 17 fours and 3 sixes. His innings saw his average sky rocket to 36 and half when at one point his batting average was in the 20’s. Jadeja still has many more years of test cricket left in him if he can stay fit. With Jadeja 2.0 finding his feet we may witness many more sword celebrations in the years to come.