Ravindra Jadeja on his celebrations against England: Calls it 'Talwaar baazi'

Ravindra Jadeja’s celebration after reaching to his half-century against England on day 4 of the Lord’s Test match is sure to be in the memories of Indian cricket fans, if not for all those who watched the moment, for years to come. ‘Talwaar baazi’, as the 25-year-old refers to it, was as audacious as any you would have seen or will come across.

In an exclusive interview to bcci.tv after the day’s play, the spin bowling all-rounder, explaining the celebratory style, said: “It has got to do with a tradition that we have among the Rajpoots. During festivals and special occasions, we have professional sword-fighters perform with a sword in each hand, moving them in that fashion. It’s called ‘talwaar baazi’. I only had one bat with me so I did it with one hand.

He added: “I wanted to have a different celebration and so I had decided whenever I get a fifty, I will do that. MS bhai must have seen it and realized what I was doing. So, he was mimicking me.”

Turning the tide

With the wickets of the Indian captain Dhoni, Stuart Binny and Murali Vijay on either side of his arrival to the crease, the visitors were in a huge spot of bother, in stark contrast to being the clear favourites to win the encounter not long before. Jadeja, having had a disappointing series since then, turned the tide in his team’s favour in a matter of minutes by counter-attacking; he combined with Bhuvneshwar Kumar to score 99 runs in 16.3 overs for the eighth wicket, thereby helping India set a daunting fourth innings target of 319 for the home team.

Scoring 68 off 57 balls, he then came on to break the opening stand by sending back Sam Robson, trapping the right-hand batsman lbw for a 27-ball 7. With the track providing assistance to spinners, aided by his pace and angle, the left-arm spinner is expected to pose plenty of problems to the England batsmen on the final day.