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4 min readApr 23, 2026 01:24 PM IST
Ravindra Jadeja in action during IPL 2026 for Rajasthan Royals. (PHOTO: CREIMAS FOR IPL)
With six wickets and 128 runs so far, Rajasthan Royals’ all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been among the top five all-rounders this IPL season. Jadeja, with his unbeaten 43-run knock and one wicket, was adjudged Man of the Match in Royals’ 40-run win over Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow on Wednesday night.
The dismissal of power hitter Nicholas Pooran against the left-arm spin of Jadeja was one of those rare instances when a left-handed batsman fell to a left-arm spinner in the IPL. After the match, Jadeja spoke about this matchup, which coaches and teams mostly avoid in the tournament.
“It’s not easy for a left-arm spinner to bowl against a left-handed batsman. So it’s not that easy. But sometimes, conditions help you. You get some spin from the wicket, and the ball stops a bit on the surface. So all these things play a big factor. That’s what is happening on this wicket. If I am a batsman facing such a spinner on a wicket where the ball is spinning and gripping, I will not take chances on every ball. And the same is the other way around. When I am bowling, the batsman also thinks in his mind that the ball is spinning and gripping. So at that time, that situation becomes a win-win situation for the left-arm spinner. But I will say that it will not happen every time. Because this is a T20 format, and sometimes one has to take the best decision. One does not have much time to think. Whatever a spinner has to do, he has to do in a small time frame. So sometimes it goes well, and sometimes it does not go well,” Jadeja said in the post-match press conference.
On Wednesday, Royals batted first and lost three wickets in the power play. They eventually finished with a score of 159 for six in their 20 overs, with Jadeja playing an unbeaten knock of 43 runs and Shimron Hetmyer contributing 22. With Jofra Archer taking three wickets and Nandre Burger claiming two, Royals won the match by 40 runs, bowling out Lucknow Super Giants for 119 in 18 overs. It was Royals’ fifth win of the season, and the team has now climbed to second spot in the points table.
Jadeja spoke about how runs from the middle and lower middle order have come at the right time for the team.
“I personally think that our middle order and lower middle order have got to bat at the right time, and that too in pressure situations. Because in the future, when we play important matches and at important stages, everyone should have the experience of scoring runs and the opportunity to have done so. It’s good that all are getting to bat. Sometimes it has happened that only the top three have scored runs, and the rest of the batsmen have not got their batting or haven’t scored runs. So it’s a good sign that most of the batsmen are getting batting in this middle phase of the tournament,” added Jadeja.
Both Royals and Super Giants made shaky starts to their innings, with Royals losing three wickets in the power play and Super Giants also losing three wickets in the power play. Jadeja termed the match a challenging one, with the wicket playing true to itself in both innings.
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“The wicket was not easy. It had some grass, and since it was a red-soil wicket, it had some bounce too. Their four pacers were bowling with pace and swing and were hitting the right areas. It was not an ideal T20 wicket where you go and slog and runs will come. I guess the pairs from both teams would have enjoyed bowling on such a pitch because it had bounce as well as seam. It was not like the pitch had bounce and seam only in the first innings and not in the second. I believe it was a challenging match,” said Jadeja.
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