Ravindra Jadeja retires silently similar to his T20I career - Cricket Winner

22 balls of batting and 14 overs of bowling is all Ravindra Jadeja had to make an impact in the tournament. A significant contributor throughout his career, Ravindra Jadeja though will be looked upon as a player who missed out. Unlike Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja’s numbers are far from his capabilities in the shortest format for India. He is a match-winner as was seen in the IPL as well, but with India his contributions have been very silent throughout.

With India though, batting at number 7 and 8 for most of his T20 career, Ravindra Jadeja’s batting had few chances to get going. Over the years, as his Test career grew, Ravindra Jadeja started to prove that he is more of a proper batter rather than a finisher. He had brief opportunities up the order and delivered with some partnerships with Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya memorable between 2020 and 2022. With the bat though, Ravindra Jadeja‘s role has always been silent and overshadowed by his surroundings.

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While bowling too, Ravindra Jadeja had a similar situation. Again not the premier spinner, Ravindra Jadeja’s role often had him bowl straight through the middle overs with his tight line and length. As his career grew, Jadeja’s vulnerability against left hand batters came in as well. His magic was still visible. Throughout this tournament as well, Ravindra Jadeja provided the luxury of allowing Rohit Sharma with options at the death.

With the bat too, Ravindra Jadeja had a few opportunities in which he delivered. He made played quick cameos with 9 and 17 respectively against Australia and England to add some crucial runs in the last two overs. His running the wicket has always competed with Virat Kohli with the two cricketers often pushing each other on fitness.

Ravindra Jadeja’s career though has always been that of a supporting role. With the bat, the top order and Hardik Pandya in the middle are often the ones with the attention while Jadeja plays the band-aid in the middle. With the ball, in white-ball cricket Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal often are noticed more. In red-ball Cricket, Ravichandran Ashwin with all his variations takes centre stage with Ravindra Jadeja providing the pressure through his consistency from the other end.

In this World Cup too, Ravindra Jadeja was often seen as an insurance for the top-order. India did end up using Axar Patel for that role too though. The possibilities that Ravindra Jadeja brought with his role is what makes a huge difference. More than numbers, he gave options. His fielding speaks for itself with batters avoiding the possibility of stealing an extra run when it is within the vicinity of Ravindra Jadeja.

His numbers again may not see him go down as an exceptional player. Jadeja though has been the silent force behind, providing those mini contributions which tend to push the team forward. There are a few memorable ones like against Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2022, New Zealand at Dubai in the 2021 T20 World Cup and even in the recent Semi-Final against England where Jadeja made some key runs.

Throughout his career he did everything asked of him. His performances were often unnoticed and his retirement, behind that of T20I giants Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, is likely to remain unnoticed.