Bowler Jadeja makes a quiet statement

PUNE: Even as Ravindra Jadeja continues being an important part of the Indian Test side, the left-arm spinner has had a rough time of it in the shorter formats over the last 12 months. He was ousted from the Indian ODI side by skipper Virat Kohli after the Champions Trophy in June last year and has a battle on his hands to get back into the reckoning. To compound matters, he hadn't made any impression for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL this season. On Saturday, though, he had his 'revenge'.


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The 29-year-old not only dismissed Kohli off the very first delivery of his spell, which was followed by an uncharacteristically muted 'celebration', but went on to take 3-18 off his four overs to take centrestage on the day. It was particularly impressive considering the fact that he hadn't contributed in a significant fashion to CSK's campaign so far. Along with offie Harbhajan Singh, the duo applied the choke on RCB, taking five wickets for just 40 runs from eight consecutive overs in the middle phase.

Jadeja hadn't completed his full quota of four overs in a lot of the earlier matches and dropped two straightforward catches off Sunil Narine in their loss to KKR. It earned him the ridicule of many fans on social media, who seem to take delight in trolling the allrounder.

As CSK batting coach Mike Hussey pointed out after the match, the performance will go a long way towards restoring Jadeja's confidence. "With Jadeja, I think it's about keeping him in a positive frame of mind. If you look at his role, it's one of the most difficult roles in T20s. He comes in late with the bat. With the ball, he hasn't got any mystery balls. He does what he does and does it very well. It's just about keeping him positive and backing him continuously. I was really pleased for him," he said.

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For Jadeja too, it was a matter of relief. "The pitch was a little bit dry and I was looking to give them full deliveries and everything worked well. Finally I took important wickets - I've been bowling well in the nets and and I look forward to doing better in the coming games," the left-armer said after receiving the Man of the Match award.

When Jadeja and Harbhajan were introduced into the attack after the Powerplay, RCB were actually going well at 47/1 and eyeing a total of around 170. But they just couldn't get going against CSK's frontline spinners. For a team which has relied so heavily on spin over the years, a performance like this was just what was needed.

"Harbhajan has also been bowling nicely in the last few games. We based our team around spin to start with and then had the challenge of moving to a new venue. We have had to adjust to conditions here. Now, we are hopefully starting to see some consistent performances which will stand us in good stead," Hussey said.