Ravindra Jadeja

Ravindra Jadeja was born on 6 December 1988. He is one of the best all-rounders in recent times. He played for Saurashtra in first-class cricket and plays for the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League as well.

Jadeja was part of the Indian U-19 cricket team that won the World Cup in Malaysia in 2008 under Virat Kohli's leadership. He made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka on 8th February 2009 and scored an unbeaten 60 off 77 deliveries in that match. However, he made his Test debut on 13th December 2012, against England at Nagpur.

Chennai Super Kings bought him for $2 million at the 2012 IPL Players Auction. He was bought by the Gujarat Lions in the 2016 IPL Players Auction for a whopping ₹9.5 crores after the Chennai Super Kings were banned from the IPL for two seasons as well. On 22nd January 2017, Jadeja became the first Indian left-arm spinner to take 150 One Day International wickets, when he removed Sam Billings at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. In March 2017, he became the top-ranked bowler as well.

When did Ravindra Jadeja make his International debut?

He made his Test debut on 13th December 2012 vs England. He made his ODI debut on 8th February 2009 vs Sri Lanka whereas his T20I debut came on 10th February 2009 vs Sri Lanka as well.

Ravindra Jadeja - Domestic Career

Ravindra Jadeja made his first Under-19 appearance for India in 2005 at the age of 16. He was added to the Indian squad for the 2006 U-19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka. India finished as runners-up with Jadeja impressing in the final against Pakistan with 3 wickets as well. He was the vice-captain of the victorious Indian team at the 2008 U-19 Cricket World Cup as well. He played a key role with the ball in the tournament, claiming 10 wickets in 6 games which came at an average of 13.

Jadeja made his first-class debut in the 2006–07 Duleep Trophy while playing for West Zone and for Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy. In 2012, he became the eighth player in history, and the first Indian player, to score three first-class triple tons, joining the legends Don Bradman, Brian Lara, Bill Ponsford, Wally Hammond, WG Grace, Graeme Hick and Mike Hussey. His first came in early November 2011 against Orissa, where he scored 314 off 375 balls. His second came in November 2012 against Gujarat, where he scored 303*. His third came one against Railways in December 2012, where he smashed 331 runs in 501 balls as well. Jadeja reached this achievement at the young age of only 23.

Meanwhile, Team India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja became the fifth-fastest player to complete the double of 2000 runs and get 200 wickets in the longer format during his 56-run knock against England in Nottingham.

Ravindra Jadeja - International Career

Jadeja made headlines with his strong all-round show in the 2008–09 Ranji Trophy – 42 wickets and 739 runs – and was added to the team for the ODI series in Sri Lanka. His international debut came in the final match of the series on 8th February 2009 where he scored 60*. In 2009, Jadeja came at No. 7 in the ODI team. In the third ODI against Sri Lanka in Cuttack on 21st December 2009, Jadeja was received the man of the match award after a four-wicket haul - 4–32.

He returned to the Indian ODI side in the third ODI against England at The Oval in London. Walking into the team with India 58–5 after 19 overs, he scored 78, adding 112 with the captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and 59 off only 5.1 overs with Ravichandran Ashwin to help India reach 234–7 in 50 overs. He also took 2–42 from his 9 overs and was named "player of the match", but England won the rain-affected match eventually.

In his Test debut against England at Nagpur, he bowled 70 overs and scalped 3/117. During the second ODI in the India-England series at Kochi, Jadeja scored 61 off just 37 balls, which took India to a total of 285. Then, he bowled a stunning spell of 2 for 12 in 7 overs, helping India beat England by 127 runs and level the series 1–1 as well.

In the historic 4–0 home Test series win against Australia in February–March 2013, Jadeja took 24 wickets, dismissing the then Australian captain Michael Clarke five out of six times in the series which sealed his place in the team as an all-rounder. His seven-wicket haul, including a five-for in the second innings of the final Test match, had earned him the Man of the Match award as well. He

He was the highest wicket-taker with 12 wickets in India's ICC Champions Trophy title win in 2013. He was ranked as the No.1 bowler in ODI Cricket by the ICC in the same year. Jadeja is the first India bowler to top the rankings after Anil Kumble and the fourth India bowler after Kapil Dev, Maninder Singh and Kumble as well.

Jadeja scored his maiden test fifty on 20 July 2014, while playing against England and saving the match for India who were struggling at 235/7 as well. He scored 68 runs from just 57 balls. His partnership of 99 runs with Bhuvneshwar Kumar helped India set England a target of 319 as well.

Jadeja had a successful Ranji season in 2015–16, where he picked up 38 wickets from 4 games and 215 runs, including three 50+ scores. Against South Africa at home, Jadeja took 23 wickets in 4 games and scored 109 runs in the series, which included crucial knocks lower down the order. Jadeja was added to the Indian limited-overs side touring Australia to play 5 ODIs and 3 T20Is. In ODIs, Jadeja took 3 wickets at an economy rate of 5.35, becoming the second-highest wicket-taker in T20Is, picking up 5 wickets in 3 games. In the second game of the series, he grabbed a blinder off his own bowling to get the important wicket of Shane Watson as well.

He featured in all four tests against Australia, claiming 25 wickets and made two handy half-centuries down the order, which earned him the player of the match and also the player of the series award in the series on 28th March 2017.

On 5th August 2017, Jadeja became the fastest left-arm bowler to reach 150 wickets in terms of the number of Tests played (32) as well. On 5th October 2018, he scored his first century in Tests and in March 2019, during the second ODI against Australia, the all-rounder became the third cricketer for India to score 2,000 runs and take 150 wickets in ODIs as well. He took his 200th wicket in Test cricket in October 2019 against South Africa.