Gambhir’s harsh Ravindra Jadeja treatment called out as world no. 1 all-rounder’s stat better than Sachin, Kohli, Rohit

Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul emerged as the key difference between India and a potential defeat at Brisbane as the two batters raised hopes of avoiding a follow-on against Australia at the Gabba. Rahul top-scored with 84, while Jadeja’s 25th Test half-century added some grace to India’s first innings as the visitors try to force a draw. Jadeja joined forces with Rahul soon after play began on Day 4, after captain Rohit Sharma endured yet another failure, edging his counterpart Pat Cummins to Alex Carey for 10. Jadeja and Rahul added 67 runs for the fifth wicket before Steve Smith’s stunning catch at slips sent the India opener back 14 short of a century.

But the highlight remained Jadeja. Playing his first Test of the series, Jadeja brought out his iconic sword swing of the bat when he completed his third fifty on Australian soil. In fact, Jadeja’s effort impressed fans so much that they were left wondering why he didn’t play in the first two matches. India went ahead of Washington Sundar in Perth before replacing him with Ravichandran Ashwin in Adelaide. However, neither all-rounder could do much, with Sundar scoring 4 and 29 with the bat and picking up three wickets, and Ashwin took just 1 wicket and scored 22 and 7.

Jadeja conceded 52 runs with the ball and went wicketless, but the World No. 1 all-rounder is living up to the moniker with the bat, which is something India could have done with, more so in the day-night Adelaide Test with the pink ball. The fact that Jadeja ranked atop the world rankings and did not get a game was always questionable on the part of the team management, and now that he has proven himself again, the daggers were out pointing towards Gautam Gambhir.

Here are some fan reactions, calling out the Indian head coach for his treatment of Jadeja.

Jadeja’s average greater than Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma

What is more telling is that Jadeja averages a fine of 56.75, and it continues to grow with every run he scores from this point onward. Before this match, Jadeja had played just five innings in Australia – 4 and 5 in Melbourne (2018), 81 in Sydney (2019), 57 in Melbourne (2020) and 28* in Sydney (2021). But this is where things get interesting. Among Indian batters who have at least faced 400 balls in their Test career in Australia vs Australia, Jadeja’s average is the best – greater than Sachin Tendulkar (53.20), Virat Kohli (50.96), Cheteshwar Pujara (47.28) and Rohit (26.68).

All Indian hopes now rest on Jadeja, who added a 53-run partnership with Nitish Reddy before Pat Cummins dismissed the in-form youngster for his lowest score of the series, 16.