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Ravindra Jadeja leaves behind MS Dhoni in elite Test batting list; Rishabh Pant's record under threat
Ravindra Jadeja went past his ex-CSK skipper, MS Dhoni in an elite Test batting list during the first Test vs West Indies at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
Ravindra Jadeja has evolved as a Test batter and has become a crucial part of the Indian setup in red-ball cricket. In the ongoing match against West Indies, Jadeja has nicked another milestone, strengthening his credibility as a batter in the purest format of the game.
Jadeja walked out to bat in the first innings of the match after KL Rahul was dismissed for a 100. He played a counter-attacking knock, notching up the scoring rate, and helped India take a substantial lead.
While out in the middle, the southpaw did not shy away from taking the occasional risk. By the time he reached 48 runs in his innings, he went past MS Dhoni’s tally of 78 Test sixes. Jadeja hit the 79th six of his Test career on the 7,111 delivery of his career. Notably, MS Dhoni took 8,104 balls to hit 76 sixes.
Jadeja has also moved to the third spot in the list of most sixes for India in Test cricket. Based purely on the count, Rishabh Pant and Virender Sehwag share the top spot with 90 maximums. Rohit Sharma is at the third spot with 88 maximums under his belt.
However, if the number of deliveries is taken into account, Pant is at the top as he has hit 90 sixes in just 4,621 deliveries, while Sehwag took 10,346 deliveries for the same. In this respect, Jadeja stands at the fourth spot in the elite list.
Consistency of Jadeja
Ravindra Jadeja had a brilliant tour to England. His knocks provided the solidity to the middle-order that allowed them to take the fight to the hosts. In 10 innings, the all-rounder scored 516 runs at an average of 55.07 during the tour. As is apparent, he has carried the form back home. Jadeja did not stop at 48; he went past the half-century, bringing out his trademark sword celebration, and is still batting at the time of writing.
The development of Jadeja, the batter, has been a big boost for the Indian team. While from the initial days of his career, he has been a match-winner with the ball, his batting has allowed greater depth to the line-up. He has often turned up in crisis and played game-changing hands with the bat.
The veteran all-rounder is one of the senior-most members in the current squad. He was named the vice-captain for the series after the designated deputy of Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, was ruled out due to injury. The southpaw seems to be enjoying his new responsibility as he promises to provide the edge over the opponents with his all-round skills.
