Why does India Need Ravindra Jadeja, The Batter, To Step Up In The WTC Finals?
Jadeja has a batting average of 35.92 in Tests (Twitter)
There are all sorts of all-rounders in modern-day cricket, if one cared to dwell on a role that, truth be told, is the most decorated tag in the sport.
It’s something that’s both prominent as well as coveted.
There are utility all-rounders to begin with that can do a bit of both with the bat and ball despite not being a prominent powerhouse in either as such. Roston Chase who began as a mainstream batter who could score hundreds and bowl at times is today part of this league now that his batting has turned lukewarm and the focus, increasingly speaking, has come to rest on his wicket-taking off-spinners.
There are the mainstream powerful all-rounders that can, at the back of sheer talent and redoubtable skill, rescue a contest from banality thereby turning it into a live wire of a contest. You think immediately of the likes of Ben Stokes in the wake of that role.
Then, there are the rising all-rounders who may not necessarily excel where experience is concerned but leave nothing to chance being backed by natural skill. You think of the likes of Sam Curran and maybe even Akeal Hosein, where white ball cricket is concerned.
But having said that, there are also the big daddies among genuine all-round cricketers whose game awareness and match-winning reputation, quite simply, precede them.
You think of a few names in this sense other than Ravindra Jadeja.
While the tag of "Sir", was originally attached signalling light-hearted banter to one of India’s genuine match-winning all-rounders, since the past several years, the humour has actually made way for genuine regard attached to a cricketer who regards performing for India as his numero uno duty.
In an age where Indian cricket is constantly on the lookout for new heroes and youngsters keen to forge their own paths, the likes of Gill, Pant, Sundar, and Thakur being prime candidates for a brave new India, Sir Jadeja is still going strong.
Fitness, mental fortitude and the ability to perform as a 24-year-old whilst actually being a 34-year-old is a testimony to his desire to perform at the highest stage for a cricketing outfit from whom the world does holds at times unreal expectations.
Having been someone who contributed immediately upon selection in a series-winning cause for India against the touring Australians of the 2012-13 series (which came at the back of a dead rubber contest vs England), his first real performance saw Jadeja tank up alongside Ravichandran Ashwin as the bowler who could flummox some of the best players of spin.
Though, a gifted all-rounder, Jadeja’s batting flourished a bit after his spinning deliveries had already become the key talking point.
The runs grew with the growth in the facial hair as did some ebullient down-the-order performances for India; it wasn’t before 2017 when he struck his first Test century the first time that he went past 250 calendar runs was in 2014, two and half years since his Test debut.
We’ve seen him, over the course of a decade, as the magician who emerges whether on slow pitches or rank turners as the big wicket-taker or the genuine partnership breaker.
We’ve admired and deeply so the ability to bowl within the stumps and without really tossing up the ball too much.
But the Ravindra Jadeja that India will certainly need in the next few hours as runs will be crucial against the Aussies in the WTC final will be the Ravindra Jadeja India were fortunate to have in July of 2022 at the fifth Test at Edgbaston.
Jadeja scored a magnificent century in his last Test match in England (Twitter)
When no one, no one really whether Gill, Pujara and Kohli were able to score runs on a difficult surface to bat, with Anderson and Potts all over India, along came Ravindra Jadeja wielding the bat that would sport a new dawn in his batting at the end of a 194-ball-stay at the wicket.
What followed would be a definitive ton, 104 useful runs scored with courage and focus as the prime custodians. Maybe what helped rather beautifully was Rishabh Pant batting boisterously at the other end; the left-hander would bring up his ton as well.
But we know that Jadeja is much more capable of taking a wicket or two to cause early hiccups to what’ll likely be a powerful Aussie lineup featuring Labuschagne and Smith in the finals.
But India would surely benefit from having a Jadeja that can go out there, don the helmet and along with it, the steely resolve beneath the grill to safeguard India and take it to a position of ascendency.
His career - 64 Tests, 94 innings, 2658 runs along with 18 fifties and 3 centuries - spread over a decade is a testimony of his longevity in the sport.
That he’s often been surrounded by more prominent newsmakers has hardly bothered him; once on the field, Jadeja likes to get under the skin of his hard-as-nails character, the man who functions with unwavering focus.
It’s what’s important, maybe the need of the hour. It’s what Jadeja, the ball turner, the man who wields and twists the bat akin to a sword, must do now.
 "Dev Tyagi")
