“Aye, paanch wicket le na… (take five wickets)”
This is what Niranjan Shah, veteran cricket administrator and godfather of cricket in Saurashtra used to tell Ravindra Jadeja every time the allrounder would play a game in Rajkot. Recalling his early days of playing cricket for Saurashtra in Rajkot, Jadeja spoke about the constant egging on he would get from Shah on an evening where the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) stadium was being renamed as the Niranjan Shah Stadium.
For Jadeja, the triple-hundred at the venue remained his fondest memory but for Shah, it was always about the “paanch wicket”.
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Hours after the evening where nostalgia was running high, Jadeja turned up in front of “his crowd”, scored a hundred and took five wickets in the second innings to help India register an emphatic 434-run win over England, and take a crucial 2-1 lead in the five-Test series.
The all-round effort was another reminder of what he brings to the table in the whites and why is an indispensable resource for the Indian cricket team. Scoring a century and taking a five-wicket haul has happened only on seven occasions in India’s Test history and Jadeja has done it twice with the first instance coming back in 2022 vs Sri Lanka in Mohali where he scored an unbeaten 175* and picked 5/41.
At the end of Day 1, Jadeja’s numbers spoke about the domination he has enjoyed at home with the bat. In the 17 innings, including 13 for Saurashtra, he has hit six hundreds and four half-centuries and has a best of 331. Two of those hundreds came while playing for India – vs England in 2024 and vs West Indies in 2018. While his last hundred – the 100* vs West Indies in 2018 – came when India were dominating the innings, the 112 vs England came at a very difficult time as India were in real trouble at 33/3 when he walked out to join Rohit Sharma in the middle. The match was delicately poised and one more wicket would have exposed India’s two debutants Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel early.
Promoted to No.5, Jadeja was like a cotton ball that soaked in all the pressure and stitched a match-defining partnership with captain Rohit Sharma. The 204-run stand for the fourth wicket is the best in the series so far and served a perfect dose of inspiration for the youngsters in the dressing room. The motivation came at the right time for young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal as he smashed his second double hundred of the series in the second innings.
“The way Rohit Sharma bhai and Ravindra Jadeja bhai played in first innings, it motivated me to do well. The way they played and scored runs in difficult situations is incredible to see,” Jasiwal said after the win.
It was indeed a “difficult situation” as the match could have swung either way after the start England got on Day 1 but Jadeja ensured he held one end and even looked more assured than Rohit, who also scored a century in the first innings. The left-hander was playing very close to his body, was very assured of his off-stump and looked a tad positive than he has been in the past. When there were runs for the taking against both Joe Root and Mark Wood, he didn’t miss an opportunity and collected 33 and 38 runs respectively off their bowling. He was very watchful vs James Anderson but staying out there was more important than being flashy or scoring runs at a brisk pace.
Jadeja’s ill-timed dismissal, a caught and bowled by Joe Root early on Day 2, didn’t allow India to have a mammoth first-innings total but had the hundred, and the partnership with Rohit, not happened, the hosts could well have played catch-up for most of the Test.
The ‘paanch wicket’
445 runs was not a bad number on the board but England came firing on all cylinders in the first innings. Until stumps on Day 2, the match was well balanced and Ben Duckett’s rapid hundred did put the hosts under the pump. Jadeja didn’t bowl much but picked the prized wicket of Ben Stokes which triggered another England batting collapse.
The show-stopper moment, however, was reserved for the final innings on a deteriorating strip. England were set a mammoth 557-run target and Jadeja, with ball in hand, delivered a blockbuster performance. On eve of the match, the 35-year-old didn’t hype the opposition’s aggressive approach and said sticking to your strengths and following a “simple” approach will do the job.
“As a bowler it’s better to keep the lines simple since they will be anyway looking to play shots. It’s better not to try different things seeing their style,” Jadeja had said.
No one knows the Rajkot strip better than Jadeja and he had his plan figured out for the final innings on Day 4. Introduced in the eighth over, it took the left-armer just 11 deliveries to get his first wicket and the plan looked “simple”. Keep them full and on, and around, the stumps. Ollipe Pope was the first to depart, Jonny Bairstow followed, Joe Root was next and the wicket of Ben Foakes landed the final blow. For Jadeja, the business was still unfinished as he was one away from completing his five-wicket haul and both him and Ashwin were looking for that final England wicket.
The moment arrived with some drama as Mark Wood, who was trapped leg before, survived as DRS showed ball pitched outside leg. Jadeja was done with his celebrations – kissing the hallowed turf and exchanging high-fives with his teammates on what he thought was his 13th five-wicket haul in the longest format. There wasn’t much delay as it finally came in his next over as Wood’s big hit went to Jaiswal in the deep.
Jadeja’s arms went up in celebration and it was only fitting that the five-wicket haul came at the Niranjan Shan Stadium. A venue where he was constantly egged on to pick “paanch wicket” by the man after whom the stadium was renamed.
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