New Delhi: Ravindra Jadeja is said to be both an underrated and an understated cricketer. And you do not need to look beyond one table that underlines why. They say that world class bowlers have a bowling average of 25 or below and you will be surprised to know that in the history of Indian cricket, there is only one bowler who has that number against his name.
This is keeping in mind that he has played at least a handful of games or in other words, bowled at least 2,000 balls in Test match cricket.
Jadeja is of course going strength to strength, having picked up the most number of wickets in the ongoing Test series against Sri Lanka. In two Test matches thus far, Jadeja has bagged 13 scalps.
Say cheese! @imjadeja with the Man of the Match award for the 2nd Test #TeamIndia #SLvIND pic.twitter.com/ZJEizvCcvK
— BCCI (@BCCI) August 6, 2017
After 32 Test matches, Jadeja has a bowling average of 23.60. The next best is Ravichandran Ashwin who has a bowling average of a tick over 25 at 25.47 after 51 games in the longest format of the sport.
(Table courtesy: Cricinfo)
It is interesting that no other bowler across generations comes close to the average that Jadeja has. The big challenge for Jadeja will be to maintain that average over a long career especially if he plays more cricket in challenging conditions overseas.
