Ravindra Jadeja spits venom against Ravichandran Ashwin after Player of the Series performance

Veteran Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been named the Player of the Series for India's dominant victory against the West Indies at home. He has credited Gautam Gambhir for recognizing him as a proper batsman in the side and has revealed more bowling opportunities with the retirement of Ravichandra Ashwin.

India registered a home Test series win after almost one year since their last win against Bangladesh in 2024. After that, they faced a humiliating 3-0 clean sweep from New Zealand at home, and since then, this is the first Test series win for Gautam Gambhir and co.

The England series, despite being a massive success, was not a single-sided win for any side, as Shubman Gill retained the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy but shared it with Ben Stokes since it was drawn between the two sides.

SHORTS

View More

Your daily dose of cricket!

Loading...

"I could get a chance to bowl more overs" - Ravindra Jadeja's sly dig at Ravichandran Ashwin

As the second Test concluded, Ravindra Jadeja, the veteran Indian all-rounder, was handed the Player of the Series award for his all-round brilliance. He was also the Player of the Match in the first Test, considering his dominance with both bat and ball.

Ravindra Jadeja, who batted for just one innings in the series, scored an unbeaten century in it and then picked 8 wickets over the course of 4 innings. Reflecting on his commendable performance, Jadeja said that it is only after the retirement of former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin that he gets to bowl so many overs.

"I could get a chance to bowl more overs (after Ashwin's retirement)," said Jadeja.

While he cleared his stance on getting more priority in the Indian team, he has also praised the performances from the fellow Indian cricketers over the course of the last few months in International cricket.

"But yeah, all in all, we’ve been doing wonderful work as a team, in terms of batting and bowling. I think we know what brand of cricket we’ve been playing over the last five, six months. So that’s a good sign as a team, that we continue to do it over a long period of time."

"I’m at number six now. So I’m thinking more as a proper batsman," Jadeja said

Jadeja smashed 500+ runs for the first time in any series throughout his Test career. The major milestone came during India's tour of England. Since then, Jadeja has dominated red-ball cricket, especially as a batter, and has reinforced himself as a specialist batter lower down the order.

"As Gauti bhai (Gambhir) said, I’m at number six now. So I’m thinking more as a proper batsman, and that works for me," remarked Jadeja.

India's most affectionate all-rounder recently explored himself as a true batsman, since he has been handed more opportunities to bat and has often been entrusted with match-defining roles for India.

"In the past, for many years, I’ve been batting at number eight, number nine, so my mindset was a little different from what I have now. I’m just trying to spend more time in the middle whenever I get a chance to bat," he added.

"I think this is my third Man of the Series trophy" - Ravindra Jadeja aims to continue promising form

Ravindra Jadeja reflected on not being bothered by records, but what he chases in reality is excellence. He has also claimed that not contributing anything to the team makes him feel less valuable in the team.

"To be honest, I don’t think too much about records. I just focus on contributing with both bat and ball to help my team win. I always look forward to do that. I feel if I don’t perform with bat and ball, then it doesn’t reflect my value as a player," said Ravindra Jadeja.

"I’m always keen and give my 100 percent. I think this is my third Man of the Series trophy, so yeah, I’m very happy to bring it back home," Ravindra Jadeja concludes with utter confidence.

ALSO READ: Gautam Gambhir attacks Rohit Sharma on sympathy for giving ODI captaincy to Shubman Gill