Ravindra Jadeja Shines as India Crushes England in Third Test

A team's ability to have a true all-around player is invaluable. In the third Test at the Niranjan Shah Stadium here on Sunday, Team India destroyed England by 434 runs, gaining a 2-1 lead in the series. Ravindra Jadeja once again demonstrated this with his contributions with the bat and left-arm spin.

In retrospect, it proved to be a brilliant move for India to move Jadeja up to No. 5 when they were 33/3 early on the first day.


India's triumph was aided by a number of factors, including skipper Rohit Sharma's century, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, and Mohammed Siraj's exploits with the ball on Day III without Ravichandran Ashwin, Yashasvi Jaiswal's double ton in the second innings, and Sarfaraz Khan's strong half-centuries. However, India might have been in more danger if Jadeja, who also scored a hundred, hadn't held one end up when Rohit seemed a little frazzled early on before they added 204 for the fourth wicket in the first innings.

Over the years, we have seen Jaddu. He has a great understanding of the circumstances. He is well aware of his strategy, and he executes and supports it. It was the same here. And this is his hometown, anyhow. So he's more familiar with these circumstances," captain Rohit said after the game.

"Recently, as you have seen over the last many years, he has emerged and made significant runs for us, whether in India or abroad. He's hitting.500 right now. We considered putting him up the order because of his confidence with the bat.

The Day IV pitch did provide a little bit more spin on Sunday, and Jadeja made good use of it to eliminate Ben Foakes and Ollie Pope. He bowled full to Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow, aiming for the stumps, trapping both leg-before. After that, Jadeja dismissed tailender Mark Wood to record a fifer and force England to settle for only 122.

There's hardly much to tell Jaddu about the ball. My responsibility is to make sure I position him appropriately," Rohit said.

You won't get easy wickets on this surface. They need a lot of effort from you. At the presentation, Jadeja, who was named Man of the Match for his 112 and match statistics of 7/92, said, "You have to earn your wickets and land the balls in good areas."

"I always look to back my strengths, play my shots and not try to be too conscious," Jadeja said of his batting effort. What I try to do is watch the ball and play the ball.

It's really easy, isn't it?

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