Ravindra Jadeja Reveals Looking For The Commentary Box To Direct His Sword Celebration During The 2019 World Cup Semi-Final

Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has opened up on an amusing incident involving him and Sanjay Manjrekar. The incident dates back to the 2019 World Cup when Sanjay Manjrekar grabbed the spotlight by calling Ravindra Jadeja a ‘bits and pieces player’. The spin-bowling all-rounder, who struck a valiant and explosive fifty against New Zealand in the competition’s semi-final, remarked he searched for the commentary box to direct his sword celebration towards Manjrekar.

Ravindra Jadeja nearly took India home with his fifty, but the men in blue suffered a heartbreaking defeat to New Zealand in a low-scoring semi-final. Accompanied by four fours and as many sixes, Jadeja top-scored with 77 off 59 balls. But the southpaw departed in the 48th over and was the sixth wicket to fall, with all the other batsmen following him quickly as well. Virat Kohli’s men lost it by 18 runs and were knocked out of the tournament. But Jadeja asserted his authority and even hit back at Manjrekar’s comments on Twitter, demanding respect.

Ravindra Jadeja revealed that as he was on fire then, he kept searching for the commentary box to direct his sword celebration to Sanjay Manjrekar. The 32-year old underlined that those understanding the situation would be aware of who it was referred to.

“Tab toh Bhatta garam tha, na! (The grill was hot, then!) I was searching for the commentary box. Then I thought, it must be somewhere there, only. And those who understand would know who I was targeting the celebration at!” Jadeja said in an interview.

That Test changed everything for me: Ravindra Jadeja

Ravindra Jadeja further commented that the Oval Test against England in 2018 changed everything for him as he got the much-required confidence by scoring 86 in the English conditions against an excellent bowling attack. The Saurashtra all-rounder remarked that it made him feel his technique is good enough to excel in England. He thinks that his game is at the right place, having made a comeback to the ODI team as well after Hardik Pandya suffered an injury.

“That Test changed everything for me. Poora (complete) game. My performance, my confidence, everything. When you score in English conditions against the best bowling attack, it greatly impacts your confidence. It makes you feel your technique is good enough to score anywhere in the world. Later, Hardik Pandya got injured and I made my ODI comeback. From then on, my game has been going well, touchwood,” he added.

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