Ravindra Jadeja will turn out for Saurashtra in the second round of the Ranji Trophy, which begins on 25 October in Rajkot. It’s the same surface that spun Karnataka into knots last week, 31 of 35 wickets falling to slow bowling.
For Saurashtra, the timing could hardly be better. Jadeja, currently the ICC’s top-ranked Test all-rounder, has been resting since India’s 2-0 home win over West Indies earlier this month, a series in which he made an unbeaten 104 in Ahmedabad and collected eight wickets. He was left out of the ODI group touring Australia – a call he said he understood.
“It is a good thing that they communicated the reason behind my omission,” Jadeja said during the Delhi Test. “I am happy about that. But whenever I get a chance next, I will try and do what I have done all these years. If I get a chance in the World Cup and there are many ODIs before and if I do well there, it will be a good thing for Indian cricket. Winning a World Cup is everyone’s dream. We narrowly missed out last time, so next time we will try and make up for it.”
Saurashtra coach Niraj Odedra, meanwhile, kept his excitement fairly low-key. “You don’t really ‘add’ a player like Jaddu – you just make sure everything else is in place and let him do his thing,” he said in Rajkot on Tuesday. “The pitch has offered help for spinners, yes, but you still have to land it in the right areas.”
Jadeja’s reunion with left-arm partner Dharmendrasinh Jadeja – ten wickets against Karnataka – should give the hosts an attack as balanced as any in the competition. The pair have a habit of squeezing sides in tandem, Dharmendrasinh drawing mistakes while his more famous namesake attacks the stumps.
A reminder for those only loosely familiar with the competition: the Ranji Trophy is India’s premier four-day championship, and early-season results often hinge on how quickly teams adjust to surfaces that still carry a bit of moisture. Spin dominates when that moisture disappears, which is exactly what happened in Rajkot last week.
Jadeja last played Ranji cricket in January, collecting 12 wickets in two games against Delhi, with best figures of 7 for 38. Numbers such as those underline why his presence is significant, but Saurashtra will know the game still needs to be won session by session. And, as Odedra put it, “Madhya Pradesh didn’t come here for the weather.”
The second-round match starts at 09:30 local time on Thursday.
