Incredible Stats Show Why Ravindra Jadeja Should Never Be Dropped From Test Playing XI

Ravindra Jadeja had to spend most of the time on bench when India toured the likes of South Africa, England and Australia. He could not play a single Test in South Africa and played just one in England. Even in Australia, he missed the first two Tests before his fortunes changed. Since the Test in Melbourne, he has not missed a single Test thus far.

On the tour of West Indies in August this year, he was preferred over Ravichandran Ashwin in both the Tests. And during this period, the southpaw has shown why he should be an automatic choice in the playing eleven. The reason behind it is the amount of solidity provided by Jadeja with the bat. One of the best spinners in Tests in the last few years, Jadeja has batted brilliantly in Tests since 2018.

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In present times, most of the teams try to accommodate players in the playing eleven who can offer something substantial with the bat and Jadeja is perfect for that. Since the start of 2018, Jadeja has lifted that batting average from 29.40 to 35.92 in the span of just 16 innings, batting between Nos. 4 and 9, according to ESPNCricinfo.

Out of those 16 innings, he has batted between number six and nine 15 times. These figures easily make him the most dependable lower-order batsman since 2018. Since the start of last year, he has averaged a highly-impressive 61.50 with the bat. No other player has even managed to touch the 50-average mark during this period.

In the ongoing home series, Jadeja has scored three consecutive fifties and all of them have while he batted at number six. Jadeja has batted so brilliantly that India haven’t missed their premier allrounder Hardik Pandya much in Tests. In fact, it would not be at all surprising if India prefer Jadeja over Pandya in the coming days.