Credit: BCCI
The current Indian Test team playing in England isn't just playing; it's contesting. It is battling. And at the end of the recently concluded five day game at Manchester, this very team emerged the stronger of the two opponents. However, even that drawn game seemed like a win of sorts for India given how far down in the contest they were with England, having mounted a tall order of runs in their first innings with the bat. But above and beyond the captivating pull of statistics, that India emerged in the driver's seat at the end of the Test match was because of one critical factor - that man called Ravindra Jadeja.
Not knighted as yet but certainly playing like a Knight, the bouyant left handed all rounder carved a mighty fine century and emerged with wickets. And that brilliant show of dexterity in unique cricketing skills held aloft India's shaft as the team, that began weakly in that fourth test ended right on top of England so much so that their captain had to frustratingly opt to 'urgent handshake ploys' to bring forth curtains on a game that still had some legs left. Wouldn't you agree?
But that being said and Jadeja's fantastic and timely 107 notwithstanding, there were other brilliant contributions from the remainder of the team members. Gill scoring a century in pain and Washington hitting a "Sundar" century in his crafty and game turning stand with Jadeja turned the tables on England.
The focus now rests on the fifth and final Test, about to begin shortly at the famed The Oval ground in London against England. That's another piece of cricketing history nestled in the beating heart of London. But as plenty of Londoners will queue up to watch live action and with it, some pulsating moments, the focus will once again, whether you like it or not, rest on that familiar figure from India. The very figure who's played multiple times this series the part of a saviour.
Ravindra Jadeja at The Oval: A romance with red-ball cricket
There's a saying in cricket that the past does hold a relevance in deciding the impact over the present. Just that in India's case, rather Ravindra Jadeja's case, the same couldn't be truer or more aplty put!
How is that, but?
Ravindra Jadeja's numbers at The Oval in London are anything but uninspiring. They are something to pay a close look at!
From the three Test matches and six bowling innings at the Kennington Oval here in London in the UK, Jadeja picked up 15 Test wickets.
Of the current list of bowlers that India are to enter the Test with, this is the best stack of wickets that any bowler has captured.
If that's not going to further boost the confidence of the Test team, then one wonders what will?
Jadeja with a match-defining act at The Oval in 2018
Implicit in Jadeja's 15 Test wickets at the very venue where he'll be bowling in at very shortly, it the very first appearance as a bowling all rounder stood out. He took seven of his 15 wickets at The Oval in 2018's Test match against England, which included the big key wickets of lads like Jennings, Buttler, and even Stokes, a popular adversary of his.
This included a four-fer.
However, England emerged on the right side of the result on that particular occasion.
Jadeja's heroics at The Oval in 2021
In September of 2021, despite not picking a mountain of wickets, and four to be precise, the Ravindra Jadeja effort three years post his 2018 stellar bowling effort did in fact contribute to India's heroic win at the venue. While surely Rohit Sharma formed the big headline act given his valiant century, he got the useful wickets of premier English batters like Moeen Ali.
In fact, Jadeja removed Moeen Ali, often times dangerous and capricious in the middle, in each of the Oval Test's innings back in 2021.
What has changed from that time on is just the coterie of players around Ravindra Jadeja.
For instance, he no longer forms part of a team in which the captain is Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli. The two dependable performers, legends for India that they may be, are a thing of the past. What matters, though, is the present and the present of this team centres around the man who can threaten the future of any of India's opponents.
Who else but Ravindra Jadeja?
