Mohali : India captain Rohit Sharma stated that all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is someone who is extremely hungry to get runs and wants to do well for the team whenever he steps on the field. Jadeja stamped his class with both bat and ball in the first Test against Sri Lanka at IS Bindra PCA Stadium, making a career-best unbeaten 175 and match haul of 9/87 to be ‘Player of the Match’ as India won by an innings and 222 runs.
“He’s one of the top. Look at the performances: to get 175 not out and then take nine wickets in the game; he’s just upping his game every time you see him. In the past when we played in India, his contribution with the bat lower down the order and taking those crucial wickets, he just seems to be adding a lot more to his game every time he plays.”
“He’s very hungry; as you can see that hunger drives athletes to move forward and I see that in Jadeja clearly. He’s quite hungry for success, quite hungry to get runs and do well for the team,” said Sharma in the virtual post-match press conference.
Sharma went on to say that he wants to maximise Jadeja’s batting abilities. “When I talk about certain thin’s, he’s very open-minded and wants to take responsibilities and challenges. An example of it was in T20Is against Sri Lanka. Casually asked him if he would be willing to bat up in the order; he was open for it, which is why we asked him to bat up the order.”
“As a captain, I want to utilise Jadeja more often with the bat. We all know about his bowling and everyone knows about his fielding. I want to utilise his batting a lot more in the future and I hope I get that opportunity as we have got a lot of young players who we need to see. But Jadeja seems to be up there, in my mind. He’s good in all three facets of the game; gives so much to the team and gives balance as well. Definitely, one of the top four he is.”
Talking about the overall performance of India in the match, Sharma believes that it was a near-flawless, dominating performance from the hosts. “I think so; you can say that. I have been a part of many a Test match in India where the performances have been of the similar kind where we have got big runs and wrapped two innings of the opposition and won the game with innings to left. You can say this is one of them, definitely.”
“I thought it was a near-perfect game for us as a team. We bowled and batted well; I thought we took our chances on the field except maybe one or two here and there. That happens and that is where I think we just need to sharpen up a little bit more and make sure that we are 1105 on the field when we go out there.”
Sharma also lauded Ravichandran Ashwin for becoming the second-highest wicket-taker for India in Test cricket, going past legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev’s 434 scalps. “It’s a big thing in his cricketing career to achieve that feat. When you grow up wanting to play Test cricket, you don’t dream about all these things. To surpass that, it’s a big achievement on his behalf.”
“I have been watching Ashwin for a long time now and every time I watch him, he seems to get better and better. Ashwin is one of those kinds of players where confidence is always there in his abilities. Whatever he wants to achieve for himself and then for the team as well, play a crucial innings and got us a big partnership there with Jadeja. Every time I see him, he seems to get better and better.”
–IANS
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