Can Jadeja be the Lead Spinner for India in England?
Ravindra Jadeja after being in and out of the team early in his career and being subjected to jokes on the online space has now become a regular member of the Indian team in all three formats. Jadeja made his Test debut after an impressive ranji season in 2012 against England in Nagpur. Nobody gave him an encouraging support that he may excel in Test cricket as a spinner citing his style of flat and fast bowling. But the Indian skipper Dhoni and the selectors had faith in him.
He was retained in the Indian team for the Test series at home against Australia. He played all the four Test matches of the series and bowled really well to support Ashwin who led the pack of Indian bowlers. But his real performance came out in the last match where he took 7 wickets including a five wicket haul.
After this series India toured South Africa where he replaced Ashwin in the playing eleven for the second Test. This was seen as a gamble move from Dhoni, but this is what Dhoni is known for and Jadeja kept his skipper’s trust by picking up 6 wickets including 5 of the top six batsmen. Here as well he was bowling tight and was confusing the Proteas batsmen by turning the odd balls. He was bowling persistantly from one end and he was bowling significantly well. But thereafter he failed to impress in New Zealand without any assistance from the pitch and he was not consistent as well.
But now here is the big question, India is out there in England to play a full length Test series. Conditions in England will surely not allow 2 spinners which means Dhoni will have to pick any one from Ashwin and Jadeja. We have seen Ashwin miserably failing outside the sub-continent. His extraordinary stats are only in India that too against some of the poor sides against spin like The West Indies, New Zealand and even Australia were not in the best of shape when they came to India. And against a quality side like England he managed to bag only 14 wickets in the four Test matches that he played. So the only option which remains in front of us is Ravindra Jadeja, does he posses the potential to be the lead spinner for the Indians in England?
I would have serious comprehensions about it. He has only played 8 Test matches till now and 5 of them in India. He does not really have the great experience to back him up in English conditions. Though he did well in the Champions Trophy in England, Test cricket is different altogether. Moreover he does not have any expirenced partner to guide him up. I am not even a big fan of his bowling style for Test cricket.
If he wants to succeed in Test cricket in England he will have to be reliant on the Indian seamers. If the seamers bowl well and provide a good platform for him, only then I think that he would come in handy. Or else he could only be used to stop the run flow in case we see the opposition cruising. I don’t think he can be relied as a wicket taking option for India at crucial moments. Also a fact to be considered is that England have many left handers in their new look batting line up which makes it even more difficult for a left arm orthodox bowler. So as a off spinner Ashwin with the variety on offer might be a better option. It would be interesting to see if the Indian management pick him over Ashwin for the opening Test. Currently he is ranked 7th in the ICC ODI bowlers rankings.
