India vs New Zealand 2nd Test: ‘Rockstar’ Ravindra Jadeja’s journey from rejected to one of the best

The next 12 Tests will be extremely important for Jadeja, since he will be looked up to by the Indian camp for sharing the workload with Ashwin.

His place in the side has been questioned several times; he has been dropped as well. He has not just faced criticism from fans; he has been ridiculed. Being Ravindra Jadeja has been extremely tough, especially when the First-Class record shows a whopping three triple-hundreds but a Test average that lingers around 21. But then, have not there been many cricketers, specialist batsmen to be precise, who have been monsters in their domestic leagues but could never do justice to their talent and promise at the international stage? Yes, there have been. Think about Mark Butcher or Graeme Hick or Mark Ramprakash. But Jadeja is no Mark Butcher; any comparison would be absurd. Jadeja is a rockstar, a term given by the legendary Shane Warne.

So what if Warne was very early in his assessment? So what if Warne, during his days at the helm of Rajasthan Royals (RR) in IPL, picked out Jadeja as one of the talents to watch out for? Warne is not expected to be wrong. He may have been wayward with anything in his life, but not cricket. There was a reason why Warne had picked out Jadeja. It may have taken time for Jadeja to prove himself based on Warne’s assessment, but the fact that he has finally started to come good is an achievement not all cricketers have been able to do.

What was so special about Jadeja back then? Of course, let alone the fact that he was not in the national team, he was not even in the reckoning. In domestic cricket, Jadeja was not even 24 when he scored his third triple-hundred. But what about his exploits with ball? It can be said Jadeja discovered himself as a bowler of international quality — someone who can trouble the best of the batsmen — only during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2012-13. Jadeja continued to trouble the then Australian captain Michael Clarke, which marked the beginning of a journey so tough which demanded the best out of him.

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If Jadeja can be remembered as one of the architects of shaping India’s historic win at Lord’s in 2014, he is also criticised till date for giving a career-saving lifeline to Alastair Cook. For many, had Jadeja hung on to the ball which had taken the edge of Cook’s bat, not only England would have continued to crumble, but India would not have lost their steam after winning at Lord’s.

They say, catches win matches, but Jadeja’s reprieve did not only have an impact on the result of the Southampton Test but on the entire series. The episode with James Anderson did not have any immediate impact, but Jadeja found himself out of favour when India landed in Australia at the end of 2014. He had an ordinary World Cup 2015 Down Under, and was sent packing to the confines of Indian domestic circuit. There was no guarantee he would return.

Jadeja stood on the crossroads in mid-2015. He had seen enough of international as well as domestic cricket to determine where he should belong. But Jadeja had no answer. He was back in Saurashtra team, he was banished temporarily from the national side, and all he had was to gear up for the Indian domestic season which was starting at least a month early from its usual time.

Anurag Thakur’s insistence of starting Ranji Trophy 2015-16 a month early with a break between the tournament was probably not designed to help discarded Indian players to find their way back into the side, but it certainly worked for Jadeja.

To have Jadeja or not was not the question when India went to Sri Lanka in September-August 2015 for a three-Test series. Surprisingly, there was Harbhajan Singh, but not Jadeja, who was banished from the national side for being ordinary for far too long.  Jadeja needed something very, very special.

In the history of cricket, there have been innumerable cricketers who have gone back to their domestic circuits in search for runs or wickets but have never been able to make that return. There also have been such cricketers who have overawed the selectors with their performances over considerable time, letting them know that it is the national side that is on the losing end by not having them. But what about Jadeja?

Harbhajan has frittered away. He is not the same force anymore; there have been runs, runs and bravado that one used to associate with one of India’s most successful cricketers. At a time when Ravichandran Ashwin and Amit Mishra tore apart the Sri Lankans, ‘The Turbanator’ was only playing third fiddle. India needed wickets but Harbhajan did not provide any. He was, not surprisingly, axed again.

Jadeja is not that cricketer who will boast about his on-field performances a great deal on his social media pages. Usually, there will be photos of his horses, or intermittent selfies. But as Saurashtra finished their opening game of Ranji Trophy 2015-16 within three days, winning by an innings and 118 runs, Jadeja posted a photo on one of his accounts of that ball with which he took the second five-wicket haul in the game.  Jadeja made 91 runs and took 11 wickets; 6 came in the first innings and 5 in the second.

After Tripura, Jharkhand were railroaded. Jadeja scored 58 and took 6 for 71 and 7 for 55. A massive win by 8 wickets came along with the good news that Jadeja has been recalled for the Gandhi-Mandela Trophy 2015-16. After all, no selection panel would have kept that cricketer out who scored 149 and snaffled 24 wickets from two matches.

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Jadeja has not looked back since then. South Africa were massacred. Their best batsmen were belittled. He has established himself as India’s best wicket-taking option after Ashwin. He was always a force to reckon with while batting; a half-century at Lord’s and three triple-hundreds require something extraordinary. His batting prowess was proved again in the first Test against New Zealand, when in both the innings, he remained not out scoring 42 and 50, getting India crucial runs.

The next 12 Tests will be extremely important for Jadeja, since he will be looked up to by the Indian camp for sharing the workload with Ashwin. The series against England, Australia and even Bangladesh will carry great importance if India have to firmly establish themselves as a force to reckon with in the longest format of the game.

Till then Jadeja can keep doing what he has been, foxing batsmen with his straight ones, having fun with bat and setting the field on fire with his spectacular fielding. But another stern Test will arrive when India will travel to England for ICC Champions Trophy 2017 and subsequently to Australia as well as England. He may find his current skill sets and gameplans outdated at that point. Let us see how much Jadeja discovers himself as a cricketer by then.

(Devarchit Varma is senior writer with CricketCountry. He can be followed on Twitter @Devarchit)