Ravindra Jadeja: Arguably the greatest India all-rounder of this generation
RAVINDRA JADEJA. The man can do anything, isn’t it? He can come in and strike lusty blows with the willow and inspire his side to a win. He is extremely handy with the ball and can bamboozle batsmen with his crafty left-arm spin. And of course, it would not be an exaggeration to say that there is no better fielder in the Indian team than Jadeja at the moment.
Jadeja can pounce on the field and stop vital runs, he can also jump in the air and pluck insane catches, and can also hit the bullseye. Jadeja is an asset for whichever side he plays for, in any format of the game.
Wonderful in whites
Jadeja’s numbers in all formats of the game allow him to stake a claim as the greatest Indian all-rounder of the modern era. He has scored 2195 runs at an average of 33.76 in the whites and has also taken 230 wickets in Test cricket. Only Ravichandran Ashwin among Indian all-rounders can challenge Jadeja.
Ravindra Jadeja’s brilliant 4 wickets haul in Kanpur on the final day. pic.twitter.com/Y2mhV9D1y9
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) December 2, 2021
Ashwin has taken a whopping 418 wickets for India in Test cricket and has the edge over Jadeja in terms of his numbers with the ball. But Jadeja comfortably beats Ashwin when the skills of the 2 men with the willow are considered. Ashwin averages only 27.82 and has scored only 11 fifties as compared to Jadeja who averages in the mid-30s and has also scored 17 half-centuries.
Valuable in white-ball cricket
And, in ODIs and T20 cricket (including the IPL), Jadeja is way ahead of Ashwin. Hardik Pandya is a man who is touted as a promising all-rounder for India, especially in limited-overs cricket but the right-arm pacer has stopped bowling in recent times due to a back issue.
Even if we analyse the records of these two men in limited-overs cricket, Jadeja has scored more than 1000 runs than Pandya with the bat and has scored them at the same average as Pandya. The left-arm spinner has taken 131 wickets more than Pandya in ODI cricket as well.
Then, comes the IPL and, Jadeja is head and shoulders over every single Indian all-rounder. He has played a colossal 200 IPL matches, has scored 2386 runs and taken 127 wickets. With his supremacy in every format of the game, Jadeja has firmly established himself as the greatest Indian all-rounder of the modern era, and there is absolutely no doubting that.
