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There’s Ben Stokes. There’s Cameron Green. There is Ravichandran Ashwin. There’s Daryl Mitchell. The list goes on but former England captain Michael Vaughan called Ravindra Jadeja the best all-rounder in the world after he played a pivotal role in putting India in the driving seat in the first Test at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad. . Jadeja, who picked up three wickets with the ball to help India beat England for 246 on Day 1, smashed an unbeaten 81 on Day 2 with the bat. He added an unbroken 63 runs with Axar Patel (35) for the eighth wicket as India reached 421/7 at stumps with a healthy lead of 175.
“Has to be the best all-rounder in the world right now @imjadeja,” Vaughan wrote on his X account (formerly Twitter).
The former England team was not far from a fair assessment. India’s rise to the top in a somewhat pedestrian field was more tectonic and Jadeja’s risk management skills played a huge role in it.
In a sense, the situation was ideal for the southpaw, who loves fights in the middle. When Jadeja came to bat, Rahul was in full flight and joined the party with some knocks of his own.
In fact, the initial 40 balls he faced produced 35 runs as India first closed the gap on England and then quickly took the lead.
But Rahul’s dismissal for a 123-ball 86 forced Jadeja to transform his approach. India’s lead was still just 42 at that point, and the home team needed him to bat hard to build more floors on that nascent base.
Jadeja did just that. He did indeed slow down, but not to the point of limiting himself to a shell and opening up whenever the English bowlers got his length wrong.
A bold shot from left-arm spinner Tom Hartley over long on for a six and a fluid off-run from leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed for a four showed their power and touch.
England’s bowlers were all in spirit and optimism as they bowled and appealed all day, but they lacked consistency to hit the right spot, except for Joe Root, who is more than a part-timer in these conditions.
It was no surprise then that it was Root who put Jadeja in the most unpleasant situation during his knock. The spinner wrapped around Jadeja’s pads and umpire Paul Reiffel confirmed the leg-earlier shout.
But DRS found a huge inside advantage when Jadeja survived for 49. He duly completed his 20th Test fifty in 84 balls when he managed three runs off Root.
The only sore spot during his assured stay was a calamitous mix-up that resulted in R Ashwin’s exit, when Jadeja sold a dummy, jogged a few steps before turning his back only to find his bowling partner standing right next to it. him.