Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra reckons there is no better all-rounder than Ravindra Jadeja at the moment. Jadeja scored a fine knock of 86 runs in the first innings against Bangladesh at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.
India was reeling at 144-6 when Jadeja added 199 runs with Ravichandran Ashwin for the seventh wicket. Jadeja batted at his absolute best and added a crucial alliance with Ashwin.
Furthermore, Jadeja bagged two wickets in the first innings and then returned with impressive figures of 3-58 in the second essay. Thus, he played an instrumental role in India’s massive win of 280 runs.
“If we talk about absolute cold stats and the last two years of cricket, he is the No. 1 Test all-rounder in the world. There is no better all-rounder than him at the moment. Of course, because Ashwin scored a century and picked up a five-wicket haul in this match, it will be discussed more,” Akash Chopra said on Colors Cineplex.
The renowned commentator added that Jadeja has improved significantly in the last few years.
”However, if you do a man-to-man comparison and see who is the best all-rounder in the world at the moment in Test cricket, it is Ravindra Jadeja. Ravindra Jadeja’s evolution has been incredible because when he started he was also a batter (just like Ashwin), an amazing fielder, and used to bowl so fast that you used to ask how would he pick up wickets,” Chopra observed.
Chopra noted there was a notion about Jadeja’s bowling that he would only pick wickets in favorable conditions but the left-arm orthodox spinner has changed it.
“There was an asterisk against his name, that if the conditions are favorable, Jaddu would pick up wickets, but if he didn’t get them (favorable conditions), then sorry. He changed it in this ground itself. He picked up seven wickets against England on the last day, the game in which Karun Nair scored a triple hundred,” he said.
“India couldn’t have won that match, only Jaddu won it for them. Ashwin was also playing but he won the game. He kept moving forward from there and now he is not a conditions-applied bowler. To validate it, the truth is that he plays more away games than Ashwin,” Chopra stated.
The second Test match between India and Bangladesh will be played at Green Park, Kanpur from September 27.
