Ravindra Jadeja joins Kapil Dev, Ravichandran Ashwin as 3rd Indian to achieve this extraordinary milestone

Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja joined the likes of Kapil Dev and Ravichandran Ashwin after his unbeaten knock on day 1 of the third Test in Rajkot. India finished day 1 at 326/5 after 86 overs.

Ravindra Jadeja (110*) scored his fourth Test ton with Rohit Sharma (131) scoring his 11th Test ton as the duo added a 204-run stand for the fourth wicket. This happened after India won the toss and opted to bat first.

India were 33/3 when the duo came together got India out of trouble and brought the hosts back into the game. Jajdeja added two crucial stands first with Rohit and then with debutant Sarfaraz Khan who scored 62 off 66 balls on his Test debut. The duo added a 77-run stand with Sarfaraz scoring 62 of them at a quick pace.

Jadeja thus became just the third Indian player to score 3000 runs and take 250 Test wickets. Former Indian skipper Kapil Dev had taken 424 Test wickets and scored 5248 runs in his Test career. Ashwin is on 499 wickets and 3271. Jadeja is the new entrant in this club going past 3000 Test runs during his knock to go with his 280 wickets in the format.

Also Read: Watch: Ravindra Jadeja brings out trademark sword celebration after his ton in Rajkot

India players with a double of 3,000 runs and 250 wickets in Tests

Kapil Dev (5248 runs, 434 wickets)

Ravichandran Ashwin (3271 runs, 499 wickets)

Ravindra Jadeja (3003 runs, 280 wickets)

Ravindra Jadeja Scored His Fourth Test Ton

Jadeja is one of the four changes that India made to their playing XI. The all-rounder who missed the second test due to a hamstring injury returned to the lineup. Amongst other chances were two new debutants Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel getting picked in the XI. While Sarfaraz replaced Shreyas Iyer, Jurel replaced KS Bharat. Mohammed Siraj replaced Mukesh Kumar in the XI with Jasprit Bumrah being the other seamer.

For England, there was only change in their XI as Mark Wood replaced Shoaib Bashir in the XI. The move turned out to be a good one as he took three of the five wickets to fall on the day including the wicket of Rohit Sharma. James Anderson who is on 695 Test wickets bowled 19 overs for 51 runs but remained wicketless. It was his economical bowling from one end that allowed Wood to take wickets from the other end.

Paul Collingwood, the interim head coach of England, spoke to TNT Sports about the day’s play from an England point of view. He credited the Indian team for fighting back after England picked up early wickets. Sarfaraz Khan’s run-out at the fag end of the final session meant that the day was shared to some extent by the two teams.

“It’s been a good day of Test cricket. We got a few early wickets but India fought back. They’ve got some highly skilled batsmen… the lads stuck at it all day. We’ll find out tomorrow if we can get some early wickets and how good a day it’s been. [Wood] He deserves it. Sometimes he doesn’t get the rewards but he did today. His opening spell was fantastic. Jaiswal is a big wicket with the form that he’s in. He’s chuffed to bits with the run-out” said Collingwood.

Also Read: Watch: Rohit Sharma absolutely livid as Sarfaraz Khan gets run out due to Ravindra Jadeja’s mistake