India vs England: Ravindra Jadeja’s Comeback Will Only Strengthen This Indian Team

The Indian team didn’t miss Ravindra Jadeja much, did they?

Axar Patel bamboozled the England batsmen with his accuracy, skiddy nature and a deceptive arm-ball to earn a bagful of wickets. The left-arm spinner from Gujarat replaced his fellow statesman and senior colleague quite commendably.

Axar forced most England batsmen to play him for the turn before doing them in with the arm-ball, their problem accentuated by his slingy action and an unorthodox ball release.

Unlike most left-arm spinners who rotate the seam of the ball from a traditional mid-on to first-slip position, Axar gives it a rip from cover to mid-wicket or vice versa, only making it tougher to identify the arm-ball and the undercutter from the conventional away spinner to the right-hander.

That, coupled with his high speeds through the air, makes him nearly unplayable on a turning pitch. With time, it being ‘Test’ cricket, will take Axar’s greater examination as batsmen learn to face him better. But for now, he did the job he was asked to do: replace Jadeja successfully.

Yet, and it shouldn’t even be a matter up for debate, India are a better Test team, home and away, when Jadeja is around. What Axar did in his first Test series and did so successfully, Jadeja has been doing splendidly over a long period of time. Virat Kohli the captain wouldn’t contest he is one of the players who have made him and has been pivotal to this Indian team’s journey.

You only have to cast your mind back to the recent Boxing Day Test at MCG to realise the impact Jadeja has had. An outstanding knock of 57 after walking out to bat at 5/173 with India still trailing Australia by 22 and spells of 1/15 & 2/28 to just put the cherry on the cake in one of India’s finest Test victories overseas. One Test later, when Jadeja dislocated his thumb at Sydney, it was felt there’s no way India could retain their five-bowler theory.

The fact that they could it with a Washington Sundar says something about a flourishing Indian system. But the fears that they might not be able to do it without him also says something about Jadeja the Test all-rounder.

Since the last time England came over, Jadeja the Test cricketer has been a different beast altogether. That was the series where he truly stepped out of the shadows of R Ashwin and became a proper bowling partner rather than a second fiddle. Using the then coach Anil Kumble as a great school of learning, Jadeja upskilled his game through that series as he got Englishmen out driving and not just defending on good Indian pitches. His grip on a batsman as good as Alastair Cook was a well-documented aspect of that series.

Jadeja averages 24.82 with the ball and 47.50 with the bat since the start of that England series over 31 Tests. These numbers should be good enough to put him among the giants of the modern-day Test cricket; right up there as one of the finest all-rounders doing the rounds.

And India can use a player of such high pedigree in the pink of health with his game to further develop someone like Axar on home soil. Opportunities abroad will be rare, if any, for Axar as Jadeja’s astounding progress as a batter will now allow India to field him and Ashwin together irrespective of the conditions.

But on home soil, where Axar should now definitely start above Kuldeep Yadav as the third spinner, India can use the safety net provided by Ashwin and Jadeja to help fast-track his development, as in return he shoulders their burden and prolongs their illustrious careers.

It’s a win-win situation for a side that will surely be a more robust juggernaut when their premier all-rounder is back from his lengthy absence.