<p>Dubai: If age is just a number, no one justifies that cliché better than Ravindra Jadeja.</p>.<p>It’s easy to forget that the lithe all-rounder from Navagam-Khed in Saurashtra is 36, that his international debut was 16 years back. Jadeja seems to have made time stand still. Anyone who entertains apprehensions need only look at how he moves on the cricket field.</p>.<p>There are so many strings to Jadeja’s bow that he is easily one of the more indispensable members of this gifted Indian set-up. The numbers are stunning – 3370 runs at 34.74 and 323 wickets at 24.14 in 80 Tests, 2797 runs at 32.52 and 230 wickets, economy 4.86, in 203 One-Day Internationals. And yet, Jadeja has largely lingered in the shadows of the now retired R Ashwin in the five-day game and of the explosive batters in white-ball action, where his three-in-one avatar is worth more than just runs scored and wickets taken.</p>.Virat Kohli: The perfect chase master . <p>Jettisoned for 14 months from the ODI squad after the loss to Pakistan in the final of the Champions Trophy in June 2017, Jadeja broke down the doors in September 2018 and has been an integral part of the national side across formats since then. The new dynamics have pushed him down to No. 8 in the batting order in the 50-over game, and where some might perceive it as a slight, Jadeja has gracefully accepted the ‘demotion’ because in his lexicon, ‘team’ has always come ahead of ‘me’.</p>.<p>Invariably, he is also the last of the six specialist bowlers Rohit Sharma turns to. Axar Patel, mainly, and sometimes Kuldeep Yadav, operate in the Powerplay and Jadeja occasionally has to wait till the midway stage of an innings to mark his run-up, but he knows the tactics and is smart enough to understand where he stands in the scheme of things. More importantly, he knows exactly what is required of him – keep things tight, yes, but also pick up the odd wicket or two because despite all his accomplishments, batters tend to take him just that bit lightly. At their own peril, it goes without saying.</p>.<p>In this Champions Trophy, Jadeja has gone about his business quietly, like he mostly does. In four games, he has sent down 32 overs for returns of four for 153. Not out of the world, not by a long way, but those wickets have come at crucial moments. Such as against Pakistan, when he ripped one past the outside edge of Tayyab Tahir after getting the ball to drift into the right-hander, to sow mushrooming gremlins of self-doubt. And such as against Australia when, in the same over in he was slog-swept for a four, he produced a skidder that hastened through and pinged Marnus Labuschagne in front. Whether that had anything to do with the batter having previously complained to the umpire about the tape to protect an injury to his left hand (which he was subsequently forced to remove) is open to debate, but Jadeja is known to have a long memory and Labuschagne perhaps ought to have known better than poke the beast.</p>.<p>Exciting with the bat and subtly versatile with the ball, it’s in the field that Jadeja truly stands out. The three-dimensional perspective that being at the ground offers alone can do full justice to his anticipation, his agility and alacrity and anticipation, his accuracy. If the cricket field were a ballet floor, Jadeja would be the prima ballerina. He doesn’t run so much as glide, his feet barely making contact with the turf. The feline grace, the effortlessness with which he coasts to the ball, the smooth pick-up and a fluid release – it is beyond magic. There are one or two others who are faster across the turf, a couple who might throw harder and flatter but there is no one else who comes close to the Jadeja package on the park. Poetry in motion comes to mind, doesn’t it?</p>
<p>Dubai: If age is just a number, no one justifies that cliché better than Ravindra Jadeja.</p>.<p>It’s easy to forget that the lithe all-rounder from Navagam-Khed in Saurashtra is 36, that his international debut was 16 years back. Jadeja seems to have made time stand still. Anyone who entertains apprehensions need only look at how he moves on the cricket field.</p>.<p>There are so many strings to Jadeja’s bow that he is easily one of the more indispensable members of this gifted Indian set-up. The numbers are stunning – 3370 runs at 34.74 and 323 wickets at 24.14 in 80 Tests, 2797 runs at 32.52 and 230 wickets, economy 4.86, in 203 One-Day Internationals. And yet, Jadeja has largely lingered in the shadows of the now retired R Ashwin in the five-day game and of the explosive batters in white-ball action, where his three-in-one avatar is worth more than just runs scored and wickets taken.</p>.Virat Kohli: The perfect chase master . <p>Jettisoned for 14 months from the ODI squad after the loss to Pakistan in the final of the Champions Trophy in June 2017, Jadeja broke down the doors in September 2018 and has been an integral part of the national side across formats since then. The new dynamics have pushed him down to No. 8 in the batting order in the 50-over game, and where some might perceive it as a slight, Jadeja has gracefully accepted the ‘demotion’ because in his lexicon, ‘team’ has always come ahead of ‘me’.</p>.<p>Invariably, he is also the last of the six specialist bowlers Rohit Sharma turns to. Axar Patel, mainly, and sometimes Kuldeep Yadav, operate in the Powerplay and Jadeja occasionally has to wait till the midway stage of an innings to mark his run-up, but he knows the tactics and is smart enough to understand where he stands in the scheme of things. More importantly, he knows exactly what is required of him – keep things tight, yes, but also pick up the odd wicket or two because despite all his accomplishments, batters tend to take him just that bit lightly. At their own peril, it goes without saying.</p>.<p>In this Champions Trophy, Jadeja has gone about his business quietly, like he mostly does. In four games, he has sent down 32 overs for returns of four for 153. Not out of the world, not by a long way, but those wickets have come at crucial moments. Such as against Pakistan, when he ripped one past the outside edge of Tayyab Tahir after getting the ball to drift into the right-hander, to sow mushrooming gremlins of self-doubt. And such as against Australia when, in the same over in he was slog-swept for a four, he produced a skidder that hastened through and pinged Marnus Labuschagne in front. Whether that had anything to do with the batter having previously complained to the umpire about the tape to protect an injury to his left hand (which he was subsequently forced to remove) is open to debate, but Jadeja is known to have a long memory and Labuschagne perhaps ought to have known better than poke the beast.</p>.<p>Exciting with the bat and subtly versatile with the ball, it’s in the field that Jadeja truly stands out. The three-dimensional perspective that being at the ground offers alone can do full justice to his anticipation, his agility and alacrity and anticipation, his accuracy. If the cricket field were a ballet floor, Jadeja would be the prima ballerina. He doesn’t run so much as glide, his feet barely making contact with the turf. The feline grace, the effortlessness with which he coasts to the ball, the smooth pick-up and a fluid release – it is beyond magic. There are one or two others who are faster across the turf, a couple who might throw harder and flatter but there is no one else who comes close to the Jadeja package on the park. Poetry in motion comes to mind, doesn’t it?</p>