IND v WI 2025: “I’m thinking more as a proper batsman,” Jadeja credits coach Gambhir for his new role in batting order

Ravindra Jadeja earned the Player-of-the-Series award in home Test series win over West Indies.

Veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has credited India head coach Gautam Gambhir for helping him adapt to a new role in the batting order, citing that his elevation to No. 6 has made him think "more as a proper batter."

Jadeja believes the move has brought out the best in him during India's commendable 2-0 Test series win over the West Indies.

Jadeja's all-round brilliance was key to India inflicting a whitewash, earning him the Player-of-the-Series award. The 36-year-old had slammed a match-turning 104 in the series opener at Ahmedabad and picked up eight wickets across the two Tests.

“As Gauti bhai (Gambhir) said, I’m at number six now. So I’m thinking more as a proper batsman, and that works for me. In the past, for many years, I’ve been batting at number eight, number nine, so my mindset was a little different from what I have now. I’m just trying to spend more time in the middle whenever I get a chance to bat,” Jadeja said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

Jadeja also mentioned that personal records are secondary to contributing to the team. “To be honest, I don’t think too much about records. I just focus on contributing with both bat and ball to help my team win. I always look forward to do that. I feel if I don’t perform with bat and ball, then it doesn’t reflect my value as a player. I’m always keen and give my 100 percent. I think this is my third Man of the Series trophy, so yeah, I’m very happy to bring it back home,” he added.

The victory marked another successful outing for India's transitioning team under Shubman Gill, following the retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. India had previously drawn the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2-2 in England.

“We’ve been doing wonderful work as a team, in terms of batting and bowling. I think we know what brand of cricket we’ve been playing over the last five, six months. So that’s a good sign as a team, that we continue to do it over a long period of time,” Jadeja remarked.

Left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who earned the Player-of-the-Match award for his eight wickets in the Delhi Test, reflected on the challenges of bowling long spells on a slow pitch.

“This was a totally different wicket if you compare it to the first Test match. Bowling a lot of overs was the challenge here, we certainly did that, I enjoyed bowling here. The drift which I got in Ahmedabad, if you compare it to this Test, there wasn't any drift here. The wicket was too dry,” Kuldeep said.