Ravindra Jadeja, man-of-the-moment, has emerged as the best bet for the Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The faith that Dhoni instilled in Jadeja from the very beginning of his career, is now paying good dividends for the Indian team. Jadeja picked up 12 wickets with an average of 12.83 and with a brilliant economy of 3.75 in the just concluded ICC Champions Trophy. These figures not just suggest his success but also how he dominated the batsmen friendly conditions with his consistent line and length.
The reason behind Jadeja''s successful run was his accuracy. The left-arm orthodox has been named as “Rock-Star” by his former Rajasthan Royals Captain, Shane Warne. Warne has said this time and again, “Jadeja is kind of a bowler who believes in “you miss I hit” philosophy which makes him a lethal bowler irrespective of the wickets.”
Jadeja stands apart from the rest of the spinners because of his ability to spin the ball both ways with the same grip on the ball and also without any significant change in run-up or action. At times, even the man himself does not know which ball would turn and which won''t and that makes the life of a batsmen tougher than ever. His stump-to-stump line not only fetches him good number of leg before wickets but also restrict the batsmen to go for a big shots.
Jadeja surely has the blend of accuracy and speed which the legendary spinner like Anil Kumble used to carry with him. He is surely not as quick as “Jumbo” but it would be interesting to see that how he would adapt once the batsmen figure him out with time. But till that time comes, it’s going to be the “Jaddu” factor which will keep rocking the world cricket with his nack of picking up wickets.
By Amit Chopra
