It took the world’s No.1 ranked Test all-rounder twenty-two days and two Tests to finally feature in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Ravindra Jadeja sat out at both Perth and Adelaide, as India first went with Washington Sundar as their solo spinner, and then R Ashwin.

India won the first but folded for 180 and 175 in the second in a ten-wicket drubbing. Ashwin took one wicket, and contributed 22 & 7.

For the third Test, Jadeja returned, and instantly delivered as India’s middle-order custodian. You were suddenly reminded how India’s fifth-most prolific Test bowler of all time can actually play as a specialist batter.

It wasn’t always like this. For the first 20 Tests of his career, Jadeja’s batting average hovered in the early 20s. The technique looked inadequate despite having hit three triple centuries in domestic cricket. For the first three years of his Test career, he managed three fifties in nearly 40 innings.

He would usually occupy the No.7 and 8 spots, sometimes going down to nine when India played an extra batter at home. Outside home, the numbers were bare: he averaged 20 something after his first 15 innings abroad, including tours to South Africa, New Zealand, England and the West Indies.

There was the odd flash of brilliance, most famously a match-turning, swashbuckling half-century in the 2014 Lord’s Test, but Jadeja was largely a spinner on the rise, hunting on home pitches along with Ashwin.

By 2016/17, Jadeja’s batting had undergone a serious upgrade. He cracked 70* from No.9 in Sri Lanka, and followed it with a brilliant, counter-attacking 86* from eight in the Southampton Test of 2018 months later. India realised they could use Jadeja as a proper all-round option. Just before Covid hit, Jadeja already had a Test ton at home, and fifties in Australia and the West Indies, slowly getting the nudge up the batting order. Scores of 30*, 40, 91, 51, 60* and 12 across South Africa and Bangladesh home series all came from No.6 (one at No.4 too).

The Jadeja of today is counted amongst the best all-rounders in the world, averaging 35 in away Tests, not too far off from his home average. The technique is still uncomplicated, but he can graft well against the older ball, just like he did to the softer Kookaburra in Brisbane. Against Nathan Lyon, he was quick to hang back to anything short to cut through the offside. If it’s full on the body, he sweeps away. To quicks, he usually dead-bats and uses his timing: just like he check-drove past Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc on day four.

Considered one of the fittest in world cricket, Jadeja also matched the eagerness of the 21-year-old Nitish Kumar Reddy, his batting partner for 17 overs, in looking for the extra run between the wickets. Their effort played a role in India avoiding the follow-on, and it made the top order look silly for having lost their wickets to poor judgement of the off stump or an eagerness to attack.

India can think of dropping a batsman but not Jadeja. Unlike the top order, he didn't play and miss. He looked the most comfortable Indian batsman here. India on this tour have failed to put their best playing XI on field. Hope it changes in the last two Tests. #AUSvIND

— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) December 17, 2024

Jadeja now averages 50.40 in Australia with three fifties across three different tours. With a five-innings cut-off, only Rishabh Pant has a better average (58.33) batting seven or lower for India in Australia.

Away from home, only two Indians – Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni – have hit more fifty-plus scores away from home while batting at seven or lower. Both excelled in counter-attacking when the situation demanded, but Jadeja takes the demolition route a lot less, instead trusting his defence to stall the game and correct its direction.

Arguably, Jadeja also has better tools than the other two to succeed in red-ball batting, and not just at seven. In fact, he averages 50.08 from 17 innings at No.6, and while most of those have come at home, it tells you how he isn’t just about dealing with the old ball. At No.5, Jadeja hit a ton against England earlier this year,batting above Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel and R Ashwin. Given how adaptive his batting is, there’s little reason to doubt he’d do well in the same role abroad.

Four of his top ten longest Test innings have come abroad, including a 194-ball effort in Birmingham, and a 159-ball fifty in the 2020 Melbourne Test. He’s also good at dealing with the second new ball, an issue that’s affected the team of late. India’s middle and lower-order collapses aren’t uncommon either: they slipped from 81-3 to 141-8 in Melbourne’s first innings, and again from 86-3 to 128-6 in the second. Having someone of Jadeja’s calibre come up earlier to prevent a collapse, rather than do the patchwork, isn’t an outlandish thought.

Jadeja has been a kind of savior at times in SENA Tests....
He now averages 31.38 in SENA only below KL, Pant & Rohit. (Since 2020)
He has played some good knocks coming to bat in tough situations.#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/koHS9QBJgT

— Sumeet (@Wr0ng_Un) December 17, 2024

The problem overseas is with team combinations, especially where spinners have a lesser role to play. India have to play at least three seamers, and see value in Nitish Kumar Reddy as a supplementary option as well. With Rohit Sharma the incumbent No.6, pushing up Jadeja doesn’t seem to be something India would look to do. In SENA countries, though, Jadeja actually averages better than Rohit (30.57 versus 29.20), with the same number of centuries (1) and fifties (6). Since the start of 2017, Jadeja is one of two Indians - Virat Kohli being the other - to score 1,000 Test runs outside India with an average in the forties.

A team that’s stumbled to three sub-200 scores in the series so far, and was down to 213-9 in Gabba, would be well-advised to change the composition of their top six in some way or the other. KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal seem to be fixed at the top, Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant would stay at four and five. Rohit and Shubman Gill are the obvious candidates for a rejig: having Rohit at three, and Jadeja at six could even be a fix worth considering. On paper, that does look like a stronger top six, and puts Rohit closer to his usual opening role, having badly misfired so far in the middle order. If India want batting depth, and are fine with Jadeja as their spinner, another batter can be included. But the main point is, this India side will be stronger with the bat with Jadeja in it, even if it means leaving out Gill.

At 36, Jadeja is amongst the oldest members of the team, but continues to be high up on the versatility scale. He might have played 75 per cent of his Test career at No.7 or below, but his batting really deserves that top-six appreciation.