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Time and again, with unerring acuracy, he sends a reminder that he is a proven strike bowler for India. On a surface which held little promise for the bowlers and was a batsman's delight initially, Jadeja played his role to perfection—he snapped five wickets in the first innings and his economy rate of 2.50 was the best among all his counterparts
Ravindra Jadeja is not one to make any grand statements. No surprises there that the most successful bowler in the Indian camp in the ongoing Ranchi Test preferred to stay away from media limelight once the stumps were called. Time and again, with unerring acuracy, he sends a reminder that he is a proven strike bowler for India. On a surface which held little promise for the bowlers and was a batsman's delight initially, Jadeja played his role to perfection—he snapped five wickets in the first innings and his economy rate of 2.50 the best among all his counterparts.
Just to underscore that he plays second fiddle to none, this was his fourth five wicket haul in an innings in the current home season. He has done enough to justify the tag of joint number one bowler in the official ICC Test cricket rankings. Jadeja has shown that he is a bowler for all conditions—on good batting tracks and on slow turning ones. Bowling the maximum number of overs, his first innings figures read as follows: 49.3 overs, eight maidens, 124 runs and five wickets.
He bowled the tightest of lines even as his more fancied spin partner Ravichandran Ashwin erred with his. In fact, Jadeja and medium pacer Umesh Yadav looked the most threatening of the four bowlers, with stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane investing most of his faith in the duo as Australia looked to build on their advantage on the second day. He delayed bringing on Ashwin till the 21st over of the day.
Said Yadav about his bowling mate, “He had a lot of five-wicket hauls in recent times and he is bowling really well. Jadeja is the kind of bowler whose style suits any type of wicket. His variations and control are very good. If he gets even a bit rough, he knows what his aim is and where he has to bowl. I think he is bowling at his best and he is getting his rewards for that.”
The Saurashtra bowler's first spell of the day said it all—in 1.3 overs, he claimed the wicket of Glenn Maxwell as he pitched the ball in the rough, causing the ball to turn and forcing Maxwell to edge it to wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha. By lunch, Jadeja had made further inroads into the Aussie middle and lower middle order— snapping two more wickets to make it a good session for India despite Steven Smith building on his superlative Test century number 19.
India gave away 102 runs in the first session, taking three wickets. By the end of Australia's innings, he bowled 19.3 overs with five maidens, 44 runs and four wickets. Maxwell, making his Test return with a much-needed, uncharacteristic maiden Test century, had his patience tested by Jadeja. Speaking about Jadeja's accuracy, Maxwell said, “There were a few dry areas on the wicket. He kept bowling around it. He probably did not find that spot yesterday, but he did today. He was pretty accurate.”
