Ravindra Jadeja’s 3D supremacy hits new peak: rock-solid batter now leads India’s fightbacks, not just finishes them

Ravindra Jadeja produced a terrific batting performance throughout the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, breaching the 500-run mark in his final outing of the series.

It’s not often that two Indian batters have made upwards of 500 runs in a Test series. Before this ongoing skirmish against England, only once previously – in 1971, during their historic tour of the Caribbean – had that feat been achieved, through debutant Sunil Gavaskar (774 runs) and the seasoned Dilip Sardesai (642).

London: India's batter Ravindra Jadeja celebrates his half century during the third day of the fifth Test match between India and England (PTI)

At Old Trafford last week, KL Rahul (532) helped India replicate that achievement by joining sensational first-time skipper Shubman Gill (754) in the 500-club. On Saturday at The Oval, Ravindra Jadeja became India’s third 500-plus batter of the series with a fifth half-century to go with a match-saving unbeaten 107 in Manchester.

Jadeja’s continued blossoming as a Test batter has been one of the many illuminating storylines of a series most compelling. It took the left-hander a half-dozen years to crack the Test batting code, but once he turned the corner on the tour of England, coincidentally, in 2018, there has been no stopping him.

Over the last five Tests, Jadeja has shown stupendous consistency. Saturday was the first time he was dismissed in the second innings; his earlier second-innings scores weren’t trifling – 25, 69, 61 and 107. Throw in first-innings half-centuries in Birmingham and at Lord’s, and the picture of a hungry, hardly satisfied batter determined to discharge his responsibilities and shepherd a still-inexperienced batting line-up is complete.

Until he started to believe in his batting abilities in the five-day game, Jadeja was pretty much a defensive left-arm spinner overseas and a deadly one in helpful home conditions, and an electric all-round fielder who moved like a gazelle, swooped on the ball like an eagle attacking its prey, and threw the orb as if swapping his shoulder for a cannon. Now, he has metamorphosed into the ultimate 3D cricketer – to borrow a term from former chief selector MSK Prasad – whose pre-eminence is evident from his status as the No. 1 all-rounder in Test cricket.

Innately intelligent though he hasn’t got as much credit for that facet as he should have, Jadeja’s watertight defence is his go-to option these days at the start of an innings, when he absorbs pressure like a sponge. His defensive technique has gradually, with plenty of work behind the scenes, gone from passable to excellent. His once-hard hands have developed a lot of ‘give’ and their softness has allowed him to keep down nasty lifters. In the dressing-room, there is a sense of calm no matter when Jadeja walks out. They know that for the most part, he won’t throw his hand away – saying that, he could so easily have been out first ball in Manchester had Joe Root not shelled a simple catch in the second innings – and that there are few better than him in their midst at reading a situation and reacting accordingly.

The art of batting alongside tailenders

One of Jadeja’s great traits is that he doesn’t allow himself to get bogged down. In this series, 48.1% of his runs have come in boundaries (53 fours, six sixes), yet his strike-rate is a more-than-acceptable 55.06, which speaks to his ease at rotating strike and ensuring that bowlers aren’t able to line up a specific batter. He is adept at batting with the specialists and the all-rounders, but at Lord’s, he revealed a new facet – the art of getting the tail to play above itself, something VVS Laxman was outstanding at.

Jadeja did farm the strike when he batted alongside Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj after India slumped to 112 for eight while chasing 193 for victory. But he also allowed the two pacers to develop confidence in themselves by not attempting the outrageous in trying to keep the lion’s share of the bowling. Bumrah negotiated 54 of the 132 deliveries faced by the ninth-wicket pair, while Siraj’s share in the 80-ball last-wicket stand was 30. Batting with bowlers isn’t easy, but it is an integral part of the arsenal when one is occupying slots at No. 6 or 7, where Jadeja has spent most of the second part of his Test career. He is now a more complete batter than he ever was, and now that he has been joined in the genuine spin-bowling all-rounders’ band by the exceptional Washington Sundar, India can so easily field Kuldeep Yadav’s left-arm wrist-spin on home patch without compromising on the batting depth they so desperately crave.

It's sometimes easy to forget, given how lithely athletic he is and how lightly the years sit on him, that Jadeja will turn 37 in four months’ time. He has been an under-sung, if not unsung, Indian hero for long, but especially with his recent batting exploits, he is getting his place in the sun. Finally. And deservedly.