‘Ashwin had four Test hundreds, Jadeja had nothing’: Sanjay Manjrekar explains who the left-hander’s batting ‘changed after 2015’

Former Indian batsman Sanjay Manjrekar and current India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja seems to have come a long way from their ‘bits and pieces’ episode. Manjrekar applauded the way Jadeja kept his calm on the second day of the Melbourne Test and played a patient knock with stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane.

After a couple of hiccups on the first half of the second day, a rock-solid partnership of 121 runs between Rahane and Jadeja gave India full control of the Boxing Day Test. Following this dominating stand, Manjrekar praised the all-rounder for his contribution and highlighted his improvement with the bat in recent years.

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“Things changed after 2015 with Ravindra Jadeja — the batsman. It was also the time when Ashwin was batting before him, Ashwin had four Test hundreds and Jadeja had nothing. Jadeja was competing with Ashwin as the spinner in the side. Ashwin’s batting dropped, Jadeja’s batting sort of skyrocketed. This guy always had a great first-class record and finally, when he got his number, he felt ‘Wow, let me make most of it’,” said Manjrekar on Sony sports network.

Jadeja’s batting average in the longest format of the game has improved over the years. In 2015, he averaged 21.80 which bettered to 37.50 in 2016. In 2017, the numbers leapfrogged to 41.00 and went up to 45.60 in 2018.

Ind vs Aus live score 2nd Test Day 3

The improvement continued in the next couple of year Jadeja averaged 62.85 in 2019, while the current figures are 65.00.

“The early part he was playing as Test all-rounder of sort, his bowling was fine but his batting for a couple of years had become a bit of harakiri. Something changed in the last 4 years. He is getting behind the ball, leaving balls, even today against a quality bowling attack, he did not throw his wicket to avoid the fast bowlers before the second new ball was taken,” said Manjrekar on Sunday.

“He hung in there, so temperamentally, the technique has always been there, batting ability has always been there,” Manjrekar added.

Resuming the day on 40, Jadeja got to his 15th Test fifty before getting holed out in the deep for 57. India were bowled out for 326, with a lead of 131 runs to play with.

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