Sometime around 2018 during a tour of England when he turned all classical in his batting, Ravindra Jadeja transformed himself into a Test batsman. In the years to come, his white ball cricket slowly began to feel the effects . There were sporadic burst of performances since 2021, but of late especially, Axar Patel has gone ahead of him in the pecking order. He is playing in this ODI series against New Zealand as the team management want to keep Axar Patel fresh and injury-free for the T20 world cup. Yet, only a fool can say Jadeja’s ODI days are over.
People who know him closely at Rajkot in Gujarat, the venue for second ODI against New Zealand, aren’t surprised about their Bapu’s competitive streak and willingness to do what is needed to level up.
Bhushan Chauhan, a former Saurashtra opener and team-mate, remembers a teenaged Ravindra Jadeja. “He was more mature than his age. We understand what we had to do when we were at the last stage of our career but he knew what he had to do way back. Like he knew if he has to be number one in all departments, he has to play for India. His priority was clear. If we were running, he wanted to be number one, if he was bowling he wanted to be number one there too. He always says no one remembers who finished number two,” Chauhan, who is now junior selector at Saurashtra Cricket Association tells The Indian Express.
Even now in ODIs, it won’t be out of place to say that given a chance to bat higher up the order he would do well as his current classical game suits that. Just that India have big-name batsmen to do that and need him to fire lower down. That’s where Axar’s hitting abilities has taken him beyond Jadeja.
There hasn’t been a greater survivor in Indian cricket than him; even survivor doesn’t quite fit the bill as it reeks of substandardness. He has moulded himself to constantly improve his game, and even now presents the go-to option for India in case Axar isn’t there. It doesn’t come as a surprise to see Jadeja playing more than 80 Tests, 208 ODI’s and 74 T20I’s in his long-illustrated career.
There was a time when he was dropped from the Indian team, instead of complaining he knew what he had to do to get back there.
“He wasn’t cribbing and he said ‘I know that I wasn’t doing enough. I need to do more’. He was clear that he will do his part, you didn’t need to worry about him. He used to silently do his job and go. There was sheer confidence which no one had,” Chauhan says.
Jaydev Shah, Saurashtra’s longest serving captain turned administrator, says Jadeja is very self-aware of his own ability and has worked relentlessly to hone his skills by not trying to change himself outright, but working on perfecting what he knew.
“He didn’t try to divert himself to learn new things. But he just focused on getting better on what he knows. If you have expertise in what you know, then rest doesn’t matter that is why he never tried to change much. Like many people must have said that if he can turn more and can get more wickets but he never tried to spin more, with that 10% of spin he won us so many games. He became an expert in that 10%,” he points out.
Kamlesh Makwana, a former off-spinner and Ranji teammate, says he has never seen a naturally-energetic person like Jadeja.
“He was a natural athlete but that doesn’t mean he didn’t work hard. One need to understand the background he comes from. The only thing he knew was playing cricket and nothing else. There was no other option other than to excel in this sport. So he gave more than what he had, even now the hunger is the same,” Makwana says.
The stardom hasn’t dulled Jadeja’s cricketing aspirations. Jaidev Shah recalls how he received a call last year where Jadeja informed him that he wants to play district matches. Before going to England last year earlier he requested Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) that he wanted to bat on green pitches.
Forget India or CSK, even with Saurashtra, Jadeja, people say, has never pushed for captaincy. Shah says not once he wanted to lead the team and that he was just happy to play.
“I don’t think he cares about money or anything. He is always focused only on his game of cricket. And he never gets disturbed by anything. He doesn’t even care what politics is going on in the team. He is just focused on himself. When I was leading the team and if the pitch had slightest of turns, I knew this man would deliver for me. Not once he wanted to lead the side, he was just happy to play,” Shah adds.
Makwana does wonder what Jadeja will do after his cricket is done. “I don’t know what will be his life after cricket because he loves it so passionately. For him playing is important and each game he wants to finish on the top, be it local or international.”