Ashwin, Jadeja top ICC charts

Indian spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja made it a rare instance of two India bowlers topping the ICC Test rankings after the left-arm spinner’s maiden 10-wicket match haul against England in the Chennai Test propelled him to the second position.

Jadeja’s performance has earned him 66 points and brought him within eight points of star off-spinner Ashwin, who has already been occupying the number one position. J a d e j a grabbed 10 for 154 in the fifth and final Test and finished with 26 wickets in the five-match series, while Ashwin ended with 28 wickets as India completed a 4-0 series victory over England, culminating with an innings and 75 runs win in Chennai. 

Jadeja has also gained a place to reach his career-best third rank in the list of all-rounders, which is also headed by Ashwin ahead of Josh Hazlewood, James Anderson, Dale Steyn and Rangana Herath, However, the Indian skipper quashed any thoughts of Jadeja growing under Ashwin’s shadow. 

“We as a team don’t think of these things that anyone is playing in Ashwin’s shadow. Everyone running in with the ball thinks he wants to take a wicket for team India. These comparisons are scenarios created in the outside world. That’s something we don’t focus on. 

Jadeja takes a lot of pride in his performance. Obviously as a bowler he wants to pick up as many wickets as he can. But if you see, every time Ashwin has picked up wickets, the economy rate from the other end is not more than two. Ashwin will himself tell you that Jadeja has played a massive role in him making those breakthroughs because there are literally no runs from both ends. They bowled brilliantly in partnership for us this whole season,” Kohli said. Kohli lauded the left-arm spinner and said he is a ‘perfect bowler on any conditions’. 

“You have to see the kind of balance he gives the side. We don’t rely on Jadeja as a bad-wicket bowler, he is a perfect bowler in any conditions in Test cricket. He is accurate and that’s what you need in Test cricket. You don’t necessarily need to have too many variations at your disposal, his strength is bowling at nice pace, not giving too much air to the ball and making the batsman think about how long they can defend. That’s his strength,” the captain said. 

England captain Alastair Cook, who got out to Jadeja six times in the series, admitted he wasn’t able to cope with the leftarm spinner’s assault. “I have a good overall record against left-arm spin. My stats have taken a bit of a dent in the last six weeks and yep, I found him hard work. It’s a strange thing for me and credit to him. He’s found a weakness there and was relentless. I wasn’t good enough to cope with it,” he added.