Emerging out of the shadows - The Ravindra Jadeja story

There is a reason Ravindra Jadeja is my player of the season. It might raise eyebrows given that Ravichandran Ashwin took a scarcely believable 82 wickets, and added 464 runs to go with it, or that Virat Kohli scored 1252 runs with double centuries popping out of his back pockets, not to speak of his high intensity captaincy style. But while those were outstanding numbers you expected those two to dominate a home season. Don't get me wrong, to dominate when you are expected to is a skill that few possess but from not being in the side in the West Indies nine months ago to get to where he has is enormously praise-worthy for Jadeja.

I particularly liked the way he grew as the season progressed. To be completely honest, when the season began, Jadeja was still seen as a good bad-wicket bowler and good-wicket batsman. That is not a crime, merely a limitation and it is one that Jadeja carried with him everywhere. And because of the eccentricities of social media identities, and the expectations that arise from high IPL price tags, Jadeja had become an easy target for snipers.

He began the season as a support bowler and Ashwin gave him credit when he said that Jadeja's miserliness at the other end, allowed him to experiment and have a few runs at his disposal. Then as the season wore on, he began taking wickets on good pitches and his 26 wickets against England was proof of that. It was a series played on wickets that had good intent if not good looks and as the Australians arrived, it was a mistake in judgement they were to make too, post Pune! His 25 wickets at 18.56 against Australia took him outside Ashwin's giant shadow and delivered promise of much more.

I liked the fact too that he got 556 runs out of himself and going ahead, as India plays a lot more overseas, he will have to ask himself, not for the first time in his career, how important his batting is to his overall identity. He started off, in his own eyes, as a batsman first but that evolution hasn't always been easy. But now that he has scored runs at 42.76 over a season he must ask himself if he wants to be a lower order free hitter or someone who aspires to bat up the order, a place his natural progression might have taken him towards.

It won't be an easy decision because genuine all-rounders are rare breeds and having to focus on two skills, using different mindsets and muscles can be taxing. He could choose to continue batting at No. 8 where his original mentor Shane Warne did, occasionally producing crucial innings but really remaining a bowler who batted enough to score 12 half centuries. That would be an easier decision. Or he could seek to move up to No. 7, even in overseas conditions, for that would allow India to play five bowlers. It won't be an easy move but I believe it must lie within his ambition.

Playing in South Africa towards the end of the year, or maybe the start of the new one, will be his next major examination in Test cricket. He has enough time to think it through. Indeed, India's overseas successes could well emerge, in significant measure, from Saha, Ashwin and Jadeja, and maybe even Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, taking a step up with the bat.

For now though, Jadeja can bask in the satisfaction of a season very well played, one that he must look back in the years to come, as his breakout season in Test cricket.