All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja scored an unbeaten 175 and then picked up match figures of 9/87 to guide India to a thumping win against Sri Lanka in the first Test.
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All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja continued his love-affair with the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali in the first Test against Sri Lanka on Sunday as he was adjudged to player of the match. His match-winning performance saw him notch up an unbeaten knock of 175 runs in the first innings and then returning strongly to register the match figures of 9/87. The player of the match award was more special as it was his third in the four Test matches that he has appeared in Mohali.
The Saurashtra-native had missed out the player of the match award in his first Test in Mohali but consistently won it in his next three matches — South Africa (2015), England (2016) and Sri Lanka (2022) — which makes him the third Indian player to win three or more awards at a venue after India greats Sachin Tendulkar in Chennai (four) and Anil Kumble in Delhi (three).
Jadeja, however, downplayed his achievement at the post-match conference by saying that he didn’t look at any records but considers Mohali as his lucky ground.
“I would say this is my lucky ground. Whenever I come here I get positive vibes. I was looking to build a partnership with Rishabh, give him the strike and enjoy his batting from the other end,” Jadeja said at the post-match conference.
“To be honest I don’t know about any stat. Feeling very good, happy to score runs and pick wickets for the team. Obviously as a player you boost your confidence with such a performance. I have not done anything differently, just played to my strengths and I give myself time to settle down,” he added.
His run with the bat and ball also made him the first player in the history of the game to score more than 150 runs over both innings in a Test match and pick up nine or more records. The previous record was held by prolific Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan who picked up 10 wickets in a match against Zimbabwe and scored an aggregate of 143 runs.
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The second and final Test will be a pink-ball affair at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, starting from Saturday. It will be a brand new challenge for the all-rounder as he has, in particular, never had an experience of playing with the SG pink ball.
“I look to keep it very simple out in the middle. I haven’t played with the SG pink ball, so it is going to be different and I will practice for a couple of days, hopefully it comes good,” Jadeja said.
Jadeja has an average of 36.46 with the bat in the longest format and has picked up 241 wickets in 58 matches.
