Comeback-man Jadeja performs his role to perfection

Even if he had the choice to do it, Ravindra Jadeja may not have scripted his comeback any better.

An integral part of the Indian set-up in all forms of the game not too long ago, Jadeja had been sidelined from the senior national team after a prolonged stretch of lean patch, both with the ball and the bat. A shoulder injury rendered him hors de combat for the whole of Test series in Australia while some average performances in the World Cup and in the ODI series against Bangladesh saw him dropped from the limited-overs side as well.

Playing a Test again after a gap of 15 months, the left-arm spinning all-rounder justified his recall with a man of the match performance in India’s 108-run win over South Africa here on Saturday. Jadeja claimed eight wickets for the match besides contributing a handy 38 runs in the first innings. The 26-year-old also brought up a small milestone, claiming 50 Test wickets in his 13th outing.

Banished from the national team (he wasn’t even picked for the India ‘A’ side), Jadeja took a break from cricket as he knew he was going to be free for another two-three months. He spent most of his spare time at his farmhouse on the outskirts of Jamnagar (about 50kms from Rajkot), either riding horses or spending some relaxed time with friends -- cooking and dining together. With about a month left for the Ranji Trophy season, Jadeja began his training routines and was star performer for Saurashtra.

In four matches, he claimed a whopping 38 wickets and scored 215 runs on Rajkot dustbowls, and with India planning to roll out turners for the Proteas, Jadeja had given a timely reminder of his utility to the selectors on such pitches. Once selected, Jadeja admitted he was a little worried as to how his comeback would go.

“When the wickets came in the first two-three matches (of Ranji), the confidence followed itself,” he said. “Then I was selected for India after two matches. I thought I have to do well for India too, I can’t relax; otherwise you get an image that you do well only in domestic cricket. That you don’t do well in international cricket. Personally, I was worried about that more than anything, as you don’t want that label that ‘you do well only in Ranji Trophy or domestic cricket.’ I wanted to do well in international cricket too,” he remarked.

Jadeja was asked if the pitch here was similar to the one in Rajkot and pat came the reply. “The (pitch for the) three Ranji Trophy matches that I played on in Rajkot was worse than this. This looks a very good wicket in comparison. It feels good as an Indian spinner to bowl in our own conditions. When the ball is turning and the wickets are coming, you get that confidence and then the ball comes out properly out of your hand. It drops where you want it to drop. It’s good that way, I was getting wickets too, so I was just enjoying my bowling.”

Jadeja isn’t a big turner of the ball and he needs such conditions to be on top of his bowling, a trait he is not unaware of.

“Everybody in the stadium knew the ball was turning,” he noted when asked about his gameplan. “I just had to put the ball in the right place. Sometimes when the ball is turning, a bowler can try too many things. I just wanted to not give boundaries when wickets weren’t coming. That is the time to restrict the batsmen and bowl in one place so that pressure can be created. Not all the balls were turning, and they mostly got out to the ones that didn’t turn. There was no special gameplan. We just kept it simple,” he reasoned.