Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar heaped praise on Ravindra Jadeja for his brilliant all-round performance on his comeback, especially with the ball, in the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia at home.
Jadeja scored 135 runs and picked up 22 wickets to help Team India retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with a 2-1 Test series win against Australia on Monday (March 13). He was adjudged the Player of the Series along with R Ashwin for his stunning performance with both the bat and ball.
Sanjay Manjrekar said on Star Sports: “I heard that he had bowled a lot for sure but the Test match pressure is different, and when you have a rank turner in front of you, there is a different type of pressure. Then it is expected that you will go there and pick up wickets.”
He further mentioned that Jadeja’s bowling is perfectly suited to wickets supporting spinners while insisting that his 70-run knock played a crucial role in India’s innings and 132-run win in the first Test against Australia in Nagpur. Manjrekar also said that Jadeja bowled brilliantly on his comeback.
The former batter added, “His bowling is perfectly suited for such pitches and he showed that by doing it. In the first Test, the way he scored runs as well. Before Axar Patel's knock, there was an important knock from Jadeja.”
He concluded, “Rohit Sharma had gotten out, then also India were in a troublesome situation. So brilliant bowling on his comeback and his batting was also very crucial for India in that Test match.”
