Ravindra Jadeja Gets Full Marks, He Has Worked Very Hard On His Game - Zaheer Khan Impressed With Left-Hander's Fifty In Nottingham

Former India pacer Zaheer Khan has been left largely impressed by Ravindra Jadeja’s half-century on Day 3 of the ongoing Test against England at Trent Bridge. The left-hander scored 56 runs while batting at number 7 and vindicated the management’s decision to choose him over Ravichandran Ashwin.

In response to England’s 183, India were reduced to 145/5 and the game hung in balance. Ravindra Jadeja joined KL Rahul in the middle and both ploughed their way to take a lead. The left-hander supported Rahul well who had seen five wickets fall down from the other end.

After Rahul and Shardul Thakur’s wickets, Ravindra Jadeja upped the ante and took the attack to the home pacers. He helped India gain a healthy lead before getting dismissed to a wild slog in order to score some quick runs.

“I feel the healthy competition between Ashwin and Jadeja has been good for India. Both of them are constantly trying to improve their games. In overseas Tests, only one spinner can play in the playing XI on most occasions. Here Jadeja should get full marks. He has worked very hard on his game,” Zaheer Khan said while speaking with Cricbuzz.

“Even today, when he was batting, we could see he had the right approach. I mean, when KL Rahul was at the crease, he played sensible cricket. When English bowlers used bouncers, he did not lose his concentration and played with control. Even when he started to play aggressively in the end, he knew which areas he could target and backed himself,” he added.

Ravindra Jadeja’s superior ability with the bat helped him clinch the spot: Zaheer Khan

Eyebrows were raised when Ashwin was not selected in the eleven despite his superb Test form in the past few months. Ravindra Jadeja, arguably the best all-rounder in the world, got the nod as the lone spinner as India went with 4 pacers in pace-friendly conditions; Thakur and Jadeja also are believed to add the batting depth.

Zaheer Khan pointed out that Ravindra Jadeja’s superior batting ability over Ashwin got his management’s call over the crafty off-spinner. In essence, it is true: for any Indian batsman to play at least 10 Test innings, the Gujarat all-rounder has the best average in outside India – better than Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, and Hanuma Vihari.

“Whenever we are talking about Ravindra Jadeja, his numbers in recent times tell us a clear story. There were some question marks when Jadeja made it the playing XI for this Test ahead of Ashwin as the lone spinner.

“His superior ability with the bat helped him clinch the spot. So far in the game, we have not seen much spin bowling from England, and India also used Jadeja for just three overs in the first innings. In this sense, we can say that Jadeja has done his job well until now,” concluded the former seamer. 

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