When India start their ODI campaign in Zimbabwe under Virat Kohli on July 24, another Saurashtra cricketer will look to enhance his reputation further.
Ravindra Jadeja's story in life and cricket has been the ideal rags to
riches story. Coming from a humble background when he used to struggle
to get his complete cricket gear in place as his father worked as a
guard in a factory and mother a nurse.
But the same guy today
commands a price tag of US$2 million in the cash-rich Indian Premier
League (IPL). And so in cricket too. The bits-and-pieces player for
Saurashtra today has become one of the most sought after player in the
limited overs version. He is everywhere. He is a livewire on the field,
he is treacherously cunning in his bowling and his batting is a big
surprise. He carries a unique quality of producing a gem when the world
would have written him off. No doubt he is Indian skipper MS Dhoni's
'go-to-man' these days.
Former India stumper and national selector Kiran More who saw him and Cheteshwar Pujara
as youngsters had once said: "They both were very talented. I was sure
that these two boys will definitely play for India some day. But it is
not just playing, what is important to earn respect from your opponents
and colleagues alike. And that is what both Jadeja and Pujara have been
able to achieve. Form is temporary and they too might face some ups and
downs in their career but they have the class to survive the tough test
of international cricket."
Jadeja avoids the media like a
plague today. He doesn't mix with too many people either but his sister
Naina urges not to blame the cricketer.
"He was very fun
loving and talkative and used to do all sorts of things youngsters do
and talk too without thinking much. But today things are different. He
is an international cricketer and whatever he does or says becomes news.
He doesn't mind that but sometime when things he has never uttered or
discussed gets published he feels bad. That's the reason why he decided
to keep his mouth shut and let his game do all the talking for him,"
Naina had said defending his brother's love-hate relation with the
press.
It is not that he doesn't communicates or socializes
but with close friends and family. Jadeja is actually a big hit among
the younger brigade in the team. He is also an active member in Twitter
and keeps expressing his thoughts through his Twitter handle. He even
took active part in some discussions too.
To sum it up in
short, the Saurashtra southpaw has come a long way from the dusty fields
of Jamnagar to the international stage. He has also matured a lot as a
human being and as a cricketer. And more importantly he is slowly
starting to enjoy life. The twirl of his moustache is just getting wee
bit stiffer with every passing day.
A
15-member India cricket squad, led by Virat Kohli, left this morning for
Zimbabwe to take on the hosts in a five-game One-Day International
series commencing on July 24.
The squad is without inspirational captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni who has been given a break by the national selectors.
The selectors have also rested three pace bowlers -- Ishant Sharma,
Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav -- along with spinner R Ashwin.
India are visiting the African nation after three years. In June 2010, an India team led by Suresh Raina took part in a triangular ODI series in Zimbabwe but came a cropper, failing to reach the final.
India made amends when they blanked Zimbabwe 2-0 in the Twenty20 series
held immediately after the conclusion of the tri-series final won by
Lanka.
Apart from Raina, Kohli was also part of that squad as vice-captain and it included Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Rohit Sharma and Vinay Kumar who are members of the current touring team.
The current squad: Virat Kohli (Capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Cheteshwar Pujara, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Parvez Rasool, Mohammed Shami, Vinay Kumar, Jaidev Unadkat and Mohit Sharma.
Legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev on Saturday credited Ravindra Jadeja for the recent success of the Indian cricket team and termed the Saurashtra player the "most valued cricketer" presently.
"Since he (Jadeja) came in, it made so much difference to the team. He is the most valued cricketer at the moment," Kapil said.
Kapil said Jadeja was a great asset to the team with his impressive bowling, batting and sharp fielding.
"In last one year, he has established himself more than an all-rounder.
He was the one who lifted the fielding, he not only set the standards
he lift the standards.
"Good to see a player of his calibre who
can play and win matches with his batting, bowling and on top of that
with his fielding. Hats off to him. It's great to have a player of his
ability in the team," the 1983 World Cup winning skipper said on the
sidelines of Cricket Association of Bengal's annual awards ceremony.
Having seen the youngsters perform during India's successful Champions
Trophy campaign, the cricketer-turned-commentator said the gen next did
not let anybody feel the absence of the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir.
"When you did not have the big players who had served the country so
well, and you don't miss them that means the next generation has
arrived. I am not saying we don't miss the big names anymore but what
I'm saying is that the young cricketers are playing so well that we did
not miss the big guns," he said.
Talking about 2015 World Cup, Kapil said the youth brigade can successfully defend their title in Australia.
"It's too early to say that how many will be fit enough to play in the
tournament. But, yes we have enough young boys who can play the next
World Cup and win it and that's important," he said.
Equally effusive in his praise for skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Kapil said it was tougher than during his time to win the World Cup.
Asked to compare the two victories of 1983 and 2011, Kapil said: "This
one. Tomorrow, it will be more difficult. The reason is obvious. Life
gets tougher, so in future it would be more tough. It won't be easy.
Next generation is always much more harder and tougher."
"Everybody knows that he's done wonderfully well for himself and the
team. Yes, he is one of the best captains and we should respect that.
When you ask such question, you have a doubt in your mind. I have no
doubts, I don't talk about him. He's the best captain at the moment. We
should just say that he is the captain," Kapil replied when asked if
Dhoni was the all time best.
On Virat Kohli
being the future captain, the all-rounder said: "As long Dhoni is
there, we should not talk about any other person. If we have a captain,
we should respect him. The day selectors think it's time to change then
we should talk about it. I will not about Kohli at all."
Kapil
said the Indian opening duo of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, who
were struggling to make a comeback should not lose hope and work harder.
"If Gambhir or Sehwag think that they cannot come back then they should
pack up and go back home and sleep. A sportsman is a fighter and takes
up the challenge," he said.
On the contentious DRS use, Kapil
said: "Let's not make it more complicated. ICC is doing their job. We
cannot make everybody happy. But if we have to accept something, most
should be happy."
Doping is the latest to hit Indian cricket
and Kapil urged the likes of Pradeep Sangwan, who failed a random dope
test in IPL 6, to learn from others' mistakes.
"I don't talk
negatives. If the young boys cannot learn from other people's mistakes
then it's a sad thing. Whatever happened I don't know. I just want to
wish everybody good luck."
On spot-fixing he said: "If you play
good cricket, a lot of bad things get hidden. But we don't want to hide
anything. We should have clean cricket as this country loves the game
more than anything else. It's the only thing that can unite the
country."
Kapil further showered praise on Kolkata saying that the passion of the city for cricket matches that of Brazil in football.
"Kolkata is a very joyful city. People of the city are mad, they are
crazy, you can put it anyway. Either they can love you or hate you. This
city has a charm of its own. It's unmatched and can compare this with
the football fervour in Brazil," he said.
The chief guest of
the CAB awards ceremony, Kapil further thanked the interim BCCI
president Jagmohan Dalmiya and hailed him as the most sought after
cricket administrator in the country.
In former Australia captain Ricky Ponting's view West Indian legend Brian Lara was a bigger match-winner than India's Sachin Tendulkar but contrary to his belief, statistics of the two batting greats tell a totally different story.
"Sachin and Lara were two stand-out batsmen for me. Lara won more games
for his team than Sachin probably has. I'd lose more sleep as captain
knowing Lara was coming into bat next day than I would with Sachin,"
Ponting told a newspaper recently.
Tendulkar, who has played
198 Tests, is far ahead of his once contemporary West Indian (131) when
statistics of the two are compared.
The statistics of Tests
show that West Indies, in Lara's presence, have won 24.42 per cent
matches while with Tendulkar in the side, India have tasted victory in
35.35 per cent of their games.
If the performance in these
matches is considered, Lara's contribution to his side's victories have
been 24.50 per cent of his total Test runs (11953) while Tendulkar's
37.01 per cent career runs (15837) have benefited India.
Out of
the hundred tons Tendulkar has scored in his international career so
far, 53 of them have come in matches that India won. 20 of his 51 Test
centuries have helped India triumph, which comes to 39.01 per cent.
In Lara's case, only eight of his 34 Test hundreds (23.52 per cent) have guided West Indies to victory.
It is argued that Lara's effort was often not complimented by his
teammates, which resulted in his side's defeat in 63 Tests (48.01 per
cent) out of the 131 matches he played. Lara's contribution in these
matches were 44.47 per cent of his total runs. Interestingly, 14
hundreds from the Caribbean southpaw have come in losing cause.
Former Indian captain Mohammed Azharuddin reckons that the ageing Sachin Tendulkar
could opt for a more open-chested stance to counter quick incoming
deliveries which has accounted for his bowled dismissals in recent
times.
Azhar said a chest-on stance will give Tendulkar just
that little extra time to cover the swing of the ball and such a change
may help the batsman on the bouncier tracks of South Africa where India
will play their next Test series.
"To each his own, but I
believe that Tendulkar can opt for a chest-on stance which will enable
him to play the pacers easily. With age reflexes get slower but you can
wriggle out if you have the technique like Tendulkar has," Azharuddin
said.
Tendulkar, who has now retired from ODIs, has been bowled
eight times and trapped leg before wicket 10 times in his last 37 Test
innings.
Azhar, a veteran of 99 Tests and 334 ODIs, further
explained, "With side-on stance, you can see the delivery with only one
eye but chest-on stance helps you observe with both eyes. This also
helps one to cover the swing. I have a feeling that Tendulkar will find
it easier to play the inswinger. Once he scores a few runs, he can again
revert back to his side-on stance."
Azhar, known for his
silken wristy strokes during his playing days, cited his own example of
having sought Zaheer Abbas' advice on changing his grip during India's
tour of Pakistan in 1989 which helped him regain lost touch.
"Initially, I found it painful as it hurt my thumb and my right hand
would come off the handle. It took time but I was open to suggestion and
it worked for me," the 50-year-old former cricketer, who is now an MP
from Moradabad, said.
On Indian cricket's newest batting sensation Shikhar Dhawan,
Azhar said that he was impressed with what he saw of the Delhi
swashbuckler but his real test will be against South Africa at the end
of the year.
"Shikhar's real test will be against Dale Steyn
in South Africa. He is a good player to watch as he has a
high-on-handle stance. A lot like Allan Lamb or Mark Waugh -- the
players of our generation", Azhar said.
"He is a compulsive
puller but I saw a tendency of his to recede back to short balls during
Champions Trophy in England. He should sort that out before Steyn and
Morkel come calling," observed Azhar, who has over 6000 plus runs in
Test matches.
Azharuddin was all praise for the trio of Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma.
"I like those players who are always looking ways to score. Virat and
Pujara, may be different in their approach have that quality. Rohit
disappointed me slightly as I have huge expectations from him. He is
phenomenally talented and I have not seen anyone with so much time to
play his shots. They will shoulder the burden of Indian batting for
minimum next 7-8 years."
The Hyderabadi stylist declined to compare the style of captaincy between Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Sourav Ganguly.
"Sourav did well in his time, as he won number of Test matches outside
the sub-continent. As far as Dhoni is concerned, results speak for
itself. He has been successful and you can't argue against success.
There was time when he lost eight successive Test matches and I felt he
needed a break. But selectors and the Board had confidence and he has
come back well."
Asked what is the proper technique to tackle
fast bowling, Azhar doesn't fancy the idea of modern-day batsmen
standing a yard out of their crease.
"I never believed in
standing out of the crease against 140 plus bowlers. Because that gives a
second less and speed of the delivery is few kilometres more if you are
standing out.
"People do it to negate the swing but when I
played Wasim Akram, I found it easier to stand deep in my crease. I
liked that extra second to decide on my shot selection as I was
primarily a backfoot player," he said.
Inarguably the best fielder during his generation, Azharuddin is happy to see that India has done well as a unit.
"In my time, we didn't have too many good fielders and thus there was
no consistency. Now we have Virat, Raina, Jadeja in the inner circle and
all of them are brilliant", Azhar said.
"We have two potent new ball bowlers in Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh
Yadav. The consistency with which Bhuvi has produced initial
breaklthroughs is laudable. It's a good team that Dhoni has and I expect
them to fare well consistently over a period of time," he added.
When India start their ODI campaign in Zimbabwe under Virat Kohli on July 24, another Saurashtra cricketer will look to enhance his reputation further. 
