Ravindra Jadeja did a great job in the Manchester Test, helping India save both the match and the series. The all-rounder slammed an unbeaten 107 and combined with Washington Sundar, who also scored an unbeaten 101, to help India salvage a draw from a position where a defeated appeared a much likely possibility.
This was not a lone case. Jadeja did exactly the same at Lord's too, where he held one fort, as wickets continued to tumble from the other end. Despite that he showed great resilience and hung around with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj but could only delay the inevitable. Then India suffered a narrow loss of 22 runs.
While Jadeja has shown his capabilities, many feel the quality of being a match-winner still lacks in the all-rounder. Ex-India cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu is the latest to join the chorus.
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"I have praised Jadeja a lot. Kapil Dev was a bowling all-rounder, and he won a lot of Tests for India in overseas. But Jadeja has done well in the supporting role away from home. He bowls his overs quickly and executes restrictive bowling, but he is unable to win Test matches, and it has been evident since the first Test," Sidhu said on his YouTube channel.
This view was also echoed by former India cricketer and ex-head coach Ravi Shastri not very long ago. Shastri had noted that if Jadeja had even 40 percent of the belief that Ben Stokes carried he could win more matches for India.
"If Jadeja has even 40 percent of the belief of Stokes, he will win you more matches. Because there is no doubt about his talent. It’s just that he has to go and take charge. If he believes he can take charge, he can do it. He’s got three triple-hundreds in First-Class cricket. It took him a long time. Three only. And it took him ages to realise that he has batting potential," Shastri had noted while speaking on The Overlap Podcast ahead of the Manchester Test.
In terms of batting, Jadeja has showed excellent flair and has amassed runs at a staggering average of 113.50 in the series. He has 454 runs from eight innings so far, which includes a century and four half-centuries - the most by any batter in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.
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