Ravindra Jadeja reveals how BCCI's domestic cricket mandate is impacting Team India players

India allrounder Ravindra Jadeja feels that playing the Ranji Trophy just before the ongoing ODI series against England helped him in gaining some crucial bowling rhythm. According to him, he never lost his rhythm since he bowled a lot of overs in that game.

Ravindra Jadeja bowled exactly 30 overs across two innings and picked up 12 wickets to help Saurashtra register a thumping win over their opponents. He also scored a quickfire 38 off 36 balls in the only innings he batted. He struck 2 fours and 3 sixes during his knock.

He played another match afterwards against Assam but didn't participate actively with either bat or ball. He batted as low as No. 9 in that game and didn't bowl at all as his workload was being managed ahead of the Champions Trophy.

Watch: Virat Kohli mocks Suryakumar Yadav, imitates 'chewing gum' act to leave Pant, Gill in splits

Ravindra Jadeja credits Ranji Trophy

After his excellent bowling performance in the second ODI, Ravindra Jadeja spoke about his bowling rhythm and the need to adapt to the 50-over format quickly. He further credited the Ranji Trophy matches to help him maintain his bowling rhythm.

"Feeling very good (after performing well in 2nd ODI). Especially playing ODIs after almost two years. You have to adapt quickly in this format. I believe that the domestic game that I played (against Delhi) helped me a lot. I bowled almost 30 overs in that match. So I never lost my rhythm," Jadeja was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

Jadeja further revealed that he was trying to bowl Test match lines and lengths which gave him a huge amount of success. He attributed the Ranji match against Delhi to his success during this series so far.

"I am trying to bowl Test lines and lengths in ODIs as well. What we call the rhythm, the continuity, was in place because my break from cricket wasn't that long. So in my view, I have benefited from the domestic match that I played," he noted.

India internationals who appeared in the Ranji Trophy

A no. of Indian international players appeared for the Ranji Trophy recently after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) made it compulsory for the centrally contracted players to make themselves available for domestic cricket.

Big names like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, and Mohammed Siraj appeared for their respective teams. While most of the players failed on their domestic return, Jadeja and Gill found success with incredible performances.

Ravindra Jadeja's performance in ongoing ODIs

Ravindra Jadeja has looked in impeccable form with the ball so far in this series. In the second ODI, he picked up the big wickets of Ben Duckett, Joe Root, and Jamie Overton and broke important partnerships.

Jadeja dismissed Duckett in his first over to land a huge blow on England. He then removed Joe Root - England's highest run-scorer in this match - for the fifth time in ODIs. He finally dismissed the allrounder Jamie Overton in the last ball of his spell to finish with impressive figures of 3-35 in 10 overs.

The left-arm spinner kept it simple and bowled wicket-to-wicket lines, thus giving the batters no room to free their arms. He was duly rewarded for the aggressive approach of England's batters.

His performance in the second ODI came after an excellent outing in the first match where he finished as 3-26 in 9 overs. In both the matches, Ravindra Jadeja has emerged as India's best bowler on the day. As expected, he is the highest wicket-taker of the series with 6 wickets at an average of 10.16 and an economy rate of 3.21.