Ravindra Jadeja: an all-round GOAT whose legacy is already immortalised

It’s been over a decade since Ravindra Jadeja hit a triple century with the bat in hand. The last of his three triple tons in first-class cricket came back in December 2012 against Railways, which was almost 12 years ago.

But Jadeja’s been making up for that void in other ways —  by bringing up a triple century with the ball in hand.

That’s right, Jaddu has joined the 300-club in terms of wickets in Tests, and he brought up the landmark on Day 4 of the second Test against Bangladesh in Kanpur. His victim was Khaled Ahmed, who chipped one straight back to the left-arm spinner.

By bringing up the milestone, Jadeja became the seventh Indian to reach the elusive 300-wicket mark.

That’s some list to be a part of. Here is a good measure of Jadeja’s greatness with the ball alone: among the seven Indians to have taken 300+ Test wickets, he has the second-best average (24.00) and strike rate (58.0).

So, Jadeja is arguably the second-best spinner India have ever produced. But here’s the thing: he is actually one of the greatest ever spinners this sport has ever seen.

In Test history, there are 10 spinners who have taken 300 or more wickets. Among them, only two have a better average than Jadeja: Ravichandran Ashwin and Muttiah Muralitharan. 

The only ones to better his strike rate of 58.1? Shane Warne, Murali & Ashwin. 

If you’re a batter, it’s so over if you’re up against Jadeja in India. The word ‘home bully’ is used to slander individuals but it’s time to put a positive spin to that for Jadeja, because he literally bullies batters at home. 

There are 23 bowlers in history who have taken 200+ wickets at home. Among them, Jadeja has the THIRD-BEST AVERAGE. Yes, Jaddu is more lethal at home than Ashwin, Dale Steyn, Glenn McGrath, James Anderson and a dozen other absolute greats of the game.

Funnily enough, Jadeja is often associated with running through sides at home in the fourth innings. It’s true that he is really, really good at doing that. 

But what makes him arguably the most underrated bowler of all time is how much he’s been able to affect games from the get go. 

In Test history, there are 15 spinners who have taken 150+ wickets in the first innings (innings one and innings two of Tests). Among them, only Muralitharan (23.94) has a better average than Jadeja’s 25.86. 

You don’t post numbers like these just by being a fourth-innings bully or someone that needs rough patches to develop in order to be effective.

A very good measure of Jadeja’s greatness with the ball is also his versatility; how good he is against both right and left-handers.

How often do we see left-arm spinners who are great against right-handers but ordinary against right-handers? Or off-spinners who prefer bowling to left-handers?

Case in point, someone like Sri Lanka's Rangana Herath averaged 24.4 vs righties but 35.3 versus the southpaws. Ashwin himself averages less than 20 against lefties (19.4) but his average balloons up to 28.00 against RHB.

But Jadeja averages under 25.00 against BOTH lefties and righties. 

So it’s pretty clear that even if you consider Jadeja to be a specialist bowler, he has a legacy and numbers strong enough to be considered one of the GOATs.

Why Jadeja is actually a cheat code is because he complements these numbers with the ball with some truly mind-boggling, world class batting numbers.

As it stands, the left-hander has 3,122 runs in Tests at an average of 36.72.

He is only the 11th cricketer and the third Indian — after Ashwin & Kapil Dev — to do the double of 3000 runs + 300 wickets.

Impressed already? Wait, this is just the start. 

Jadeja has done the 3,000 runs + 300 wickets double in 74 matches. He is the second-quickest to the milestone in history, behind only Ian Botham (72 Tests).

What’s more, he is, by some distance, the fastest spin-bowling all-rounder to the aforementioned double. 

He’s gotten there 14 Tests quicker than Ashwin, who is the second-fastest spinner to the milestone.

And he is now only one of four cricketers in history to both take 300+ Test wickets AND register 25+ fifty-plus scores. 

The other three? Kapil Dev, Ian Botham & Daniel Vettori.

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At 35, players are usually edging towards the twilight of their careers, but Jadeja feels closer to his peak than he has ever been. He is more mature, complete, and all-around. 

4,000 runs + 400 wickets on the cards? Who says no?

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