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Indian cricketer Ravindra Jadeja in action. (AP photo)
Indian cricketer Ravindra Jadeja, after scoring his half-century, does his trademark celebration. While it is quite spectacular to the eye, former Australian cricketer Brett Lee warned about the left-arm spinner injuring his rotator cuff muscle. “The only way I see him getting injured is doing a rotator cuff, with the way he does the sword celebration. I love it. Look after your body, don’t celebrate too hard,” said Lee on his YouTube channel.
“You know, another sort of 15 Tests, it’s about two years. I think he’ll go past the 100 mark. I think he’s one of the best all-rounders that we’ve seen. 36 years of age, he’s still got a good couple of years left in him.” Lee showered praise on Jadeja. “The term we like to use, factory-made cricketer. He has everything that a cricketer needs, and I think he ticks every single box. He does the basics right, he’s got a simple technique, no fuss. He runs in and bowls accurately, he bowls the correct line and length when needed, and gets through his overs quickly.”
“36 years of age, but the fittest. He’s the fittest in the team, he covers a lot of ground, and he prides himself on being the fittest. That is probably the reason why he never shies away from those big moments. He likes to be in the game, he’s an entertainer, and he’s probably one of the factory cricketers that if you put everything into a mix, throw it into a bucket, mix all up, pick out your best cricketer, Jadeja will be at the top of the list,” said Lee.
Ajay Jadeja lauds his namesake
Former India batter Ajay Jadeja has said that his namesake was arguably even more consistent than captain Shubman Gill, who himself broke a plethora of records by smashing a whopping 754 runs in the series.
The 36-year-old’s big moments started with the thrilling third Test at Lord’s, according Ajay Jadeja, where Ravindra scored 72 in the first innings and an unbeaten 61 in the second. The latter of those two innings is especially noteworthy as he shepherded the Indian tail for just over 50 overs and nearly took India to an improbable victory.
“He has been more consistent than even Shubman Gill. He had four innings that didn’t end, because the batting ended from the other end. In the entire series, there were only two innings where he got out early,” said Ajay Jadeja.
“If we try to remember his moments, it started with Lord’s, where you couldn’t win for sure, but he and (Mohammed) Siraj fought there. A change was seen there. The fortitude started from there. Then he kept standing in the next match and drew the match. Then he scored runs in this match (last Test) as well,” he observed.