Dear Ravindra Jadeja,
It’s been a while since you took the field, a spectacle that all the Indian fans so very dearly missed. A spectacle that could have salvaged a sinking ship in the hostile shores of Africa and yet a move that clearly came back in amplified terms as you dismantled Sri Lanka and records together.
As India was busy with Virat Kohli’s century Test, your return to the longest format of the game in the last three months was overlooked and yet you knew how to turn those heads back.
Ravindra Jadeja is now an indispensable part of Team India
You know Jaddu that you have evolved yourself into an indispensable part of the Indian lineup and whenever the nation plays without you, there is a growing sense of trepidation, every time India loses the top three.
Probably the inclusion of Suryakumar Yadav and Shreyas Iyer has done a few tricks to soothe the frayed nerves but then without you at number seven, the team misses out on a defender who can arrest the downfall comfortably when there is one or they can go all guns blazing when the team has a solid start.
Your ability to shift gears from the first to the fifth opens up a boatload of opportunities for India to experiment as they can bring in an additional batter or a bowler to bolster the department that the team thinks must be filled in.
Ravindra Jadeja played a stellar knock in Mohali against Sri Lanka
As India took on Sri Lanka at Mohali, you started very slowly made the people question the fact about your form. They pointed out that you looked uncomfortable in the middle.
Then you came out of your shell and started banging the bad deliveries to the ropes and when Ravichandran Ashwin got out, you were in no mood to stop. You splayed the visitors with extreme prejudice and that 175 was simply an ode to your bedazzling brilliance.
Maybe, a double-century would have been poetic but at times we could only have one wish after all the match should have been won and the collective outfit of the nation is always above individual brilliance.
However, the sport that you always are, you had no complaints whatsoever and you found a way to continue the domination that started with your willow.
After tormenting the Lankans with the blade in your arms, it was time for them to swallow a rock and they started suffering the intolerable pain in no time.
Even though the start of it came at the hands of Ash, what you came up with, in the middle played an elemental role in destabilizing their base and from there on it was simply easy pickings for India.
Keeping aside the bare minimum necessities of cricket, if we have to underline what was your contribution in the field, let’s put it in a line that would say, “not even for one time did the ball slip past your wary cordon”.
From the defeat at the hands of New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup semi-final despite punching heroically above your weight to the fabled return, you have lived a dream.
The second innings of the Test saw you going again as if you never cared for what happened to you. You seemed ruthless, hungry and absolutely cold-blooded in your quest of brilliance.
The most important part about your return was that India could know for sure that your skills haven’t been blunted with your injury. In fact, they were now sharper.
Ravindra Jadeja is a 3D cricketer
Jaddu, either be it in the field or be it with the bat and the ball, you never fail to impress me. You know your craft well than others and you know very well about the role that the team expects from you.
From striking the ball to space to deracinating the timbre with a couple of laserlike throws or maybe with enigmatic deliveries that would impudently leave the batters twisted in a knot, you transcended yourself beyond the ordinary.
Maybe, the ICC rankings aren’t as just to you as they should be but do the points matter when the world knows what you are capable of doing? A king may not particularly have the contours of a kingdom in his favour but no one denies his royalty. That is what you are, Jaddu.
With love,
From,
A crazy cricket fan of yours
