It has been an outstanding comeback in the longest format of the international game for Saurashtra-lad Ravindra Jadeja. Once dropped from the Team India squad, Jadeja never gave up. The boy fought hard and had an incredible Ranji season both with the bat and the ball. Looking at his domestic performances, the selectors could not help but opt for Jadeja for the ongoing Test series against South Africa.
Ravindra Jadeja has already notched up 12 wickets in this series. In the first Test at Mohali, Jadeja picked up eight wickets in two innings for which he was awarded the man of the match.
In the ongoing second Test match against South Africa in Bangalore, Jadeja has already picked up four wickets in the first innings and second innings is yet to come. Jadeja can no more be termed as the back-up spinner as he complemented Ravichandran Ashwin. Both the spinners have bagged 12-wickets each and are leading the tally in this series.
"I guess he had some time to reflect as to which areas he needs to work on to improve. His performances in Ranji Trophy (more than 30 plus wickets for Saurashtra) should have given him loads of confidence," Team India bowling coach Bharath Arun told reporters ahead of Day 3 of the second Test match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
"Also Jadeja is one of our 'banker' (bankable) bowlers. No matter what format you play, whether you play Tests or ODIs. He knows using his strengths to his advantage."
The second Test match has suddenly come to a halt because of the persistent rain in Bangalore. The groundsmen will not be able to remove the covers and bring in the super soppers until and unless the rain stops playing the spoilt sport. Otherwise, India are in total control of this match after they cleaned up South Africa for a meagre total of 214 runs in the first innings. The Day 2 was completely washed out because of the rain and today, there are no signs that the rain is going to make its way out of this city.
Arun still felt that there is a lot of time left in this Test match. The players should give their time and focus. But if the match is abandoned or drawn, India would feel unlucky as they could have taken a 2-0 lead in this series.
"I guess, there's a long way to go in this Test match. We would like to focus on taking it session by session in batting. We need to put up a very good total be in driver's seat in the match and see how it goes from there on," Arun added.
