Jadeja has been a match-winner & is doing everything you have asked him to do: Aakash Chopra

Ravindra Jadeja is enjoying a phenomenal ride in his cricket career. In recent years, Jadeja has gone from strength to strength and has successfully pipped Hardik Pandya as India’s No. 1 all-rounder. He is now counted as one of the best all-rounders in the modern era. However, Jadeja didn’t have it easy as his cricket career has been nothing less than a roller coaster ride.

Before the semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup, Jadeja was always in and out of the Indian cricket team. Former Indian cricketer and renowned cricket analyst Aakash Chopra carried out a detailed analysis on Jadeja’s career. Chopra narrated one of the low points of the all-rounder’s career when he was banned from the Indian Premier League.

After the initial roadblocks, Jadeja finally managed to secure his place in the Indian team as a spin all-rounder but around 2017, he was replaced by Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal in the limited-overs format. As far as the Tests are concerned, the veteran off-spinner Ravi Ashwin was preferred over CSK all-rounder.

“Sir Ravindra Jadeja, no one knew Jaddu will reach till here. In fact, he had a very low point, he was banned from the IPL. This was in 2010 as he was negotiating a contract outside the laws of the IPL at that point in time,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

“Later on, he was not getting picked in ODIs and T20Is as well when Kul-Cha [Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal] were playing and he used to be behind Ashwin in Tests. So overall the career used to move and then stop, sometimes due to a ban and performance at other times. It took time for Jaddu’s true colors to come out,” he added.

Ravindra Jadeja scores runs and takes wickets wherever he goes: Aakash Chopra

Highlighting the turning point of Jadeja’s cricket career, Aakash Chopra said that the all-rounder’s performance during the fifth Test match of the five-match series against England changed things for good. The 32-year-old warmed the bench for the first four Test matches and could only feature in the last Test. However, the spinner made sure to grab headlines as he picked up seven wickets with a best of 4/79 and plundered a scintillating unbeaten 86 in India’s first innings.

“But to come back from that, the journey has been absolutely outstanding. The turning point of his career was the fifth Test against England in 2018 where he scored an unbeaten 86. He got confidence after that and has not looked back ever since.

“Wherever he goes, he scores runs and takes wickets. He has been a match-winner and is doing everything you have asked him to do, whether you talk about ODIs, T20Is or Tests. His batting has improved and fielding is absolutely outstanding,” Aakash Chopra concluded.