At the 2023 World Cup, Ravindra Jadeja has produced one masterclass of defensive spin bowling after another, writes Abhishek Mukherjee.

“Sorry for stealing it from Jaddu,” began Virat Kohli in front of a packed stadium after being named the Player of the Match against Bangladesh. You can see why.

Not only in Gahunje, but Ravindra Jadeja was among the key players during India’s wins at Chennai, Delhi, and Ahmedabad; and unless something unexpected happens, he will continue to remain in Player of the Match contention throughout this World Cup.

Of course, the Chennai pitch – his IPL home for over a decade – was to his liking. The Australian side featured several Test players who had withered away against him earlier this year, when Jadeja had taken 17 wickets in the two Test matches India won.

There were also R Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav, men who would have been first-choice spinners in most ODI sides in the world. Things were loaded in Jadeja’s favour.

But the wickets? Throughout his spell, he mostly stuck to one line (middle to off), length (good), and trajectory (flattish), but varied his pace, as Kuldeep and Ashwin attacked the stumps.

Jadeja spun one past Steve Smith’s bat and hit timber. Marnus Labuschagne edged a sweep against a ball too quick for that shot. And Alex Carey curbed his sweeping instinct and missed a straight ball. Those ten balls broke Australia’s back, and they were bowled out for 199.

The Jadeja impact was not as evident against Afghanistan (though 0-38 in eight overs, including two at the death, in a total of 272-8 makes reasonable reading), but he was in his element in the Pakistan match.

At Ahmedabad, Pakistan were 73-2 when Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan got together. They added 82, but in 17.1 overs: they could not go after Jadeja – and Kuldeep.

Jadeja reprised the Chennai spell at Ahmedabad – albeit not in bowling figures. Rizwan tried to break the shackles by sweeping against the turn of the second ball he faced. The DRS saved him, but he did not go after Jadeja for a while.

It was not until Jadeja’s fifth over that he tried to attack again. He slogged, then underedged off consecutive balls. He picked up two fours, but he knew he had been lucky, and returned to his shell. Jadeja rounded off the innings with two wickets that, on another day, he might have got earlier.

Gahunje had probably the flattest of the four tracks. The venue, far away from both Pune and Navi Mumbai, has small boundaries. For once, the odds were stacked against India: by the time he came on, Bangladesh were 98-1 in 17 overs, Hardik Pandya had hobbled off the ground, and even Kohli had bowled.

The media centre at the venue is placed at an angle, which can be a blessing in disguise when the bowler runs into you. For Jadeja, doubly so, for the ball is often obstructed by at least one of the batter and the wicketkeeper, if not both.

You see him find his length straight away. Najmul Hossain Shanto edges one in the first over. He defends the next ball. Litton Das punches the last ball of the over for two. In his next over, Jadeja pitches up, and Das has little option but to defend.

You can see Jadeja find his rhythm now. The boundaries are short, but he is not tossing the ball up enough for them to loft straight. He is not giving them room to swing their arms. He is pitching neither too full nor too short. He is offering them with a choice between defending the ball; pushing on the front foot along the ground; and taking risks.

After a streak of dot, dot, one, one, one, Shanto – Bangladesh’s stand-in-captain for the day – cannot take it anymore. He tries to play Jadeja from the back foot. He does not even consider reviewing when the ball hits him on the pad. He knows what being trapped on the back foot off Jadeja looks like.

Jadeja’s next over yields five dots and a single. Three overs into the attack, he has already conditioned everyone to guess the length accurately – but not the pace. He will be fast, sometimes faster, sometimes turning them, but seldom by a mile.

It is unsexy to watch, yet you cannot take your eyes off him as he jogs in to bowl in a flurry of dark headband, shades, and facial hair.

Someone has to give it back, and who better than Das? He slogs one over Jadeja’s head and violently shuffle-sweeps the next ball to pick up two boundaries. Jadeja does not do anything fancy, for he does not have a problem with them taking risks.

He resumes with the noose, a function of the tried-and-tested trinity of line, length, and trajectory. His next 12 balls fetch three runs. The drip-drip-drip gets to Das, who decides to give the charge and holes out to long-off.

Jadeja concedes only three boundaries. Of them, Mushfiqur Rahim’s sweep for six is the only one that does not involve risk – but then, few cricketers in the world sweep against the turn as well. Two of his dots fetch wickets, but none of the 34 will make it to the tiny highlights package.

Among those who have played at least twice, Jadeja’s economy rate of 3.75 is the second-best at this World Cup, after Jasprit Bumrah’s 3.62. His 131 dot balls are next to only Bumrah’s 154 and Trent Boult’s 132. Despite a strike rate of 32, he averages a remarkable 20.28. Of spinners with more wickets, only Mitchell Santner (15.09) has a better average.

This is not a one-off. Since the start of 2022, Mohammad Nabi, Shakib Al Hasan, and Rashid Khan are the only spinners from Full Member nations to have bowled more balls in ODIs at a better economy rate than Jadeja’s 4.58. Now, at a World Cup on home soil, with the cushion of being the best batter of the three spinners in the squad, he has used precision as his weapon of choice to rise above the others.

Of course, a new challenge awaits him now. With Hardik Pandya ruled out, Jadeja may have to bat at six. Or, if the team management wants, go up the order to take on Santner. Since the start of 2022, he has struck at only 64 in ODIs – something that may (or not) be related to him averaging 51 in Test cricket.

As the finest fielder and the most efficient defensive spinner in India – in the world, some may argue – Jadeja is already one of his team’s most important cricketers at this World Cup. To pull off a third role would be phenomenal.

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