Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif has rated Ravindra Jadeja as the most important bowler for the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka. Jadeja was rested for the one-off Test match against Afghanistan but he has returned to the 15-man squad.
The all-rounder has all the experience under his belt and he is going to lead the spin attack, which has spinners like Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar and Saransh Jain.
Jadeja has played in Sri Lanka before and he would look to make the most of his experience. The left-arm orthodox spinner has scalped 348 wickets in his glorious Test career and he is two wickets away from joining Kapil Dev, Daniel Vettori and Sir Ian Botham as players to have scored more than 4000 Test runs and take more than 350 scalps.
Mohammad Kaif said on his YouTube Channel, “He (Ravindra Jadeja) is the most important bowler on this tour. Kuldeep is also there, but I would put Jadeja ahead because he has the experience. He can provide the accuracy that is required. His Test record with the bat is also excellent. His batting has been in very good form. If we talk about Test cricket, you might remember that he scored a century on the England tour as well. So, his batting record has improved significantly.”
Kaif said Ravindra Jadeja’s return will be a huge boost for skipper Shubman Gill.
“Jadeja’s return will be a huge benefit for Shubman Gill. He is an extremely accurate bowler, and you won’t find a better all-rounder in Test cricket at the moment, someone who can contribute with both bat and ball. He can bat higher up the order, at No. 4 or 5, or he can bat lower down. He plays the new ball well and is also very strong against spin.”
The former UP batter highlighted that Sri Lanka’s spinner Prabhath Jayasuriya bowls similar kind of deliveries as Ravindra Jadeja.
“They have one bowler, Prabath Jayasuriya, whom I was looking at. He is a left-arm spinner. Prabath has 125 wickets in 25 Test matches. He could trouble our batters because he is quite tall and accurate as well. He consistently bowls the kind of deliveries that Jadeja does, and Prabath does that too. So, this could be a problem.”
The first Test match between India and Sri Lanka will be played at Galle from August 15 onwards.
