Ravindra Jadeja, ace India all-rounder, has opened up about dealing with team management not showing confidence in his batting abilities during his initial years in Test cricket. Ravindra Jadeja made his India Test debut in 2012 against England.
He has gone on to play 89 Tests, scoring 4095 runs with six centuries and has taken 348 wickets with a best bowling figure of 7/42. He formed one of the best spin combos for India with R Ashwin, and his batting has improved a lot in the last decade or so.
Jadeja reflected on his growth as a Test batter and revealed how he developed the temperament to play long innings.
“When I started, I used to bat at number 4. If you look at my entire Ranji Trophy career, my average is more than 60. Whatever Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy first-class cricket I have played domestically, my batting average is more than 60. So somewhere, I had that belief that I had that ability. But sometimes what happens is that you come into the Indian team and you don't get that batting number,” Jadeja said in a chat with Sony Sports India during the 1st SL v IND Test in Galle.
During the early years of his international career, the all-rounder acknowledged that his confidence was impacted by frequently batting at No. 8 or 9, and occasionally even below Ravichandran Ashwin.
“Sometimes the situation is such that I have batted at number 8 and 9 as well. So, when you are sitting in the dressing room with your pads on, next to you, a fast bowler is selecting a ball. Seeing all those things, my morale and confidence would go down. Sometimes you think to yourself, ‘I have to go and score runs,'” he added.
Jadeja explained that watching bowlers prepare to bat ahead of him often made him feel that the team did not have complete confidence in his batting.
“And in that same dressing room, a fast bowler is selecting the ball, thinking, ‘Come on, now bowling is coming.’ So because of all those things, my confidence was literally disturbed. I would think, ‘Oh man, what is this? The team doesn't even have confidence in me?’ So I have seen that in my early days, I didn't get that number. Very low; many times I even went in to bat below Ashwin. So somewhere, all those things disturbed me,” Jadeja revealed.
However, Jadeja has gone on to become one of the best all-rounders in the world and for India since then. Apart from Tests, Jadeja has had a fulfilling white-ball career for India as well, scoring 2905 runs and taking 232 wickets in ODIs and making 515 runs and taking 54 wickets in T20Is.
