At the elite level of sports where only the most elite talents make it, there is often nothing more precious than game awareness. India have truly been blessed in that aspect in the form of Ravindra Jadeja, whose brilliant fielding abilities once again came to the team’s rescue in Pune on Saturday.
India set themselves a target of 359 on Day 3 of the second Test after bowling out New Zealand for 255 within the first hour of play. Resuming from an overnight score of 201/5 with Glenn Phillips and Tom Blundell the incumbent batters, the visitors looked destined to put up a target well beyond the hosts’ reach but three quick Ravindra Jadeja scalps saw them go from 231/5 to 241/9. However, the belligerent Phillips remained an imposing figure at the crease and landed some huge blows once he inherited the repsonsibility of handling the tail. The middle-order batter had raced to 48 on the back of four boundaries and two maximums while farming strike from number 11 William O’ Rourke as India’s desperation for a scalp grew, until it arrived through some more magic from Jadeja’s infinte arsenal.
The left-arm spinner tempted Phillips into a big shot in the 70th over by going short and wide, and his counterpart obliged by chipping the roughened red cherry over deep cover. The connection was not good enough to take the ball to the boundary as Washington Sundar chased after it but it allowed O’Rourke and Phillips came back for an easy second run. However, just as the duo were jogging in between the wickets, Sundar suddenly picked up speed to gather the ball in a jiffy and sling an accurate throw towards Jadeja at the non-striker’s end. By the time O’Rourke got wind of what was happening, Jadeja had brilliantly redirected the ferocious throw onto the stumps with a lightning quick tap.
Replays showed the batter was short of the crease by the barest of margins, thus leaving Phillips stranded and Indian ecstatic much like Twitterati.
Superb
Legend
Sir Ravindra Jadeja 🙇♂️ pic.twitter.com/wVimMtHjWC
— Out Of Context Cricket (@GemsOfCricket) October 26, 2024
Team India looks completely different Team if Ravindra Jadeja takes wickets.
He didn’t contribute much with the ball in these conditions which is very unusual from him.We still have some chance now to make a comeback.pic.twitter.com/9D4R3BhK4Y— Sujeet Suman (@sujeetsuman1991) October 26, 2024
Stuns the world
LOL
Jadeja is pure thalason pic.twitter.com/2uBYTJva0v
— sujay anand (@imsujayanand) October 26, 2024
If Ravindra Jadeja take more than 3 wicket I will give 1500 Rupees to everyone who likes this tweet 🌟 🙏 🇮🇳 C’mon india #indvsnzl #INDvNZ #INDvsNZ #RAVINDRAJADEJA pic.twitter.com/o5BF1LdKI5
— Ashish (@SirAshu2002) October 26, 2024
Fantastic
Bow downto king
First made important runs, then 3 wickets in no time this morning and now a smart run-out. Bow down to Sir Jadeja pic.twitter.com/xodDk0bYBm
— Div🦁 (@div_yumm) October 26, 2024
Jadeja showing effects of being with Thala for more than 13 years 🫡 pic.twitter.com/x3u2I4HTaL
— Dinda Academy (@academy_dinda) October 26, 2024
Saviour
-He Can Bat
-He Can Bowl
-He Can Field
-He Can Save Chokers BCCI from humiliation
Greatest All-rounder of this generation Sir Jadeja 🐐 pic.twitter.com/q066p2nozz— Sulphate⁷ (@SulphateDhoni07) October 26, 2024
