The curious case of Ravindra Jadeja

India has had some very prominent all-rounders over the years, one of whom is Sir Ravindra Jadeja. By no stretch of imagination is he the best of the lot, but he’s surely one of a kind.

Jadeja is exceptional, both with the bat and the ball. Image credits: India TV

Like many players born in the late 80s-early 90s, Jadeja’s first crack at glory on a global level was the 2008 U19 World Cup, which India won under the captaincy of Virat Kohli. Shortly after, he got his ODI cap and scored 60 in his debut against Sri Lanka. His selection in the U19 and, subsequently in the international team, came off the back of a stellar domestic record.

He is one of only 8 players to score 3 first-class triple hundred. Some other names in the lot include Sir Donald Bradman, Brian Lara, Wally Hammond and Mike Hussey. A cute little list to be a part of.

His returns with the bat slowed down just as he got to the international scene. He was a part of the 2009 T20 World Cup squad but couldn’t contribute heavily and was, thus, seen on the bench more often than not. Didn’t take pundits and experts on Twitter long to start calling this decision premature and reckless. That was, until, it was time for him to play in the Test side.

His Test debut came 3 years after playing in the ODI XI when India battled England in their 2012 tour. Jadeja rode high on his confidence off of a great Ranji season and in the 2013 series against Australia picked 24 scalps in just four games. This was quickly followed by him becoming the highest wicket-taker for India in their victorious 2013 Champions Trophy campaign. The world knew what he could do with the bat and his ability with the ball was made known as well now. As sad as it was to see Yuvraj struggling at the time, we thought we had his replacement.

I guess it was premature to hail him as a superstar at the time because what followed were two lukewarm years both, with the bat and the ball. Sure, he had an odd fifty here and there, but on a larger scale, he just wasn’t contributing enough.

He took the aid of First-Class cricket once again to rebuild his stature and, sure enough enough, did so. Another stellar season in the Ranji Trophy and he was representing India against South Africa in the 2016 home season. This was the beginning of something immaculate for him.

A Test Cricket legend was born

Memorable performances against South Africa and Australia meant that his position as India's number 7 wasn't so precarious anymore. It's not just Test Cricket that the guy has been able to dominate, but Limited-Overs cricket as well. Off the top of my head comes the 2019 World Cup semi-final. India was down and out, lurking at 92-6 chasing 240 to win. Jadeja played one of his all-time great knocks, scoring 77 off 58 deliveries. India hanged in there by a thread, courtesy of the 7th wicket stand between Jadeja and Dhoni.

Jaddu has been very versatile in his ability; he bowls quick overs, he's more than likely to provide you with that much-needed breakthrough, almost always reliable to push the innings' score just a little more, but that's not all there is to him.

What else can Jadeja do?

He fields. He fields like an absolute maniac. He is one of the most threatening players to have ever stepped foot on the field. Taking insanely difficult catches and running out batsmen from as far as the boundary line is like clockwork to the guy. There have been instances where, to some degree, I've gone as far as to advocate that he warrants a place in the XI just for his ability to field.

That Khawaja run-out, that run-out in the test against New Zealand, putting an end to Steve Smith's century with a direct hit; just one too many moments where he made me fall in love with fielding.