Can This Man Defeat England?

Courtesy of Haresh PandyaRavindra Jadeja.

After a pathetic performance in the last two tests against England, the Indian cricket team is pinning its hopes on the gifted Saurashtra all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja to even the four-match series, whose final test starts Thursday in Nagpur.

The selectors of India's team, which lost the second test in Mumbai and third in Calcutta after winning the first in Ahmedabad, couldn't ignore Jadeja's display of prowess in the Ranji Trophy matches, held earlier this month in Rajkot. When Jadeja scored 331 for Saurashtra against Railways, he became the first cricketer from the subcontinent to score three triple centuries in first-class cricket â€" quite a fea t for a player who is just 24.

Jadeja has not only scored two triple centuries in just four matches this season; he has also taken more than 20 wickets. He is expected to step into Yuvraj Singh's shoes in the test cricket team and play a key role as a middle-order batsman and left-arm spinner in Nagpur.

“It's always an honor to play test cricket for one's country, and I need hardly say how happy I feel,” he said in an interview. “It was my dream since childhood to play test cricket for India. Having already represented the country in One-Day Internationals and Twenty20 matches, I knew I would be picked to play test cricket one day. I'll try my utmost to justify the selectors' confidence in my ability.”

Describing Jadeja as a “world-class all-rounder,” the former India wicketkeeper Nayan Mongia said that the selectors had no better option after Singh failed to live up to expectations. “I'm sure Jadeja will figure in the playing XI in Nagpur. His big scores and bagful of wickets in the Ranji Trophy this season make him an ideal candidate for test cricket,” said Mongia.

Jadeja, who had earlier scored 314 against Orissa at Cuttack in November 2011, has joined the elite club of cricketing legends W.G. Grace, Bill Ponsford, Don Bradman, Wally Hammond, Graeme Hick, Brian Lara and Michael Hussey, who have scored three or more triple centuries in first-class cricket.

“The fact that I've scored another triple century this season is yet to sink in,” said Jadeja. “I was confident of making big scores in first-class cricket and prove that I'm not just a limited-overs match specialist. I feel vindicated now that I'm selected in the Indian test team.”

Jadeja hails from Jamnagar, in Gujarat, which has produced renowned cricketers like Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji, Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji, Vinoo Mankad and Salim Durrani. “Cricketers like these can inspire any budding player,† said Jadeja. “I'm lucky to have been born in a small but historic place like Jamnagar.”

Though Jadeja was not even born when Mankad passed away in 1978, there are shades of the great Indian all-rounder of the 1940s and 1950s in the young player. Like Mankad, Jadeja is also a complete cricketer, with brilliant skills for batting, bowling and fielding.

A kingpin in the Indian team for the shorter versions of the game not long ago, Jadeja has played 58 One-Day Internationals and scored 860 runs at an average of 28.66. He has hit five half-centuries and his highest score is 78. He has also taken 57 wickets at 38.42 apiece. Jadeja has played 12 Twenty20 matches for India.

“If he makes full use of his God-given talents for batting and bowling, Jadeja can become a champion all-rounder,” said Durrani. “India has played him only in limited-overs matches so far. I'm sure he'll prove his ability in test cricket, too. For one so young, Jadeja is mentally ve ry tough. And you've to be mentally tough to play test cricket.”

As a child, Jadeja was more interested in sports, particularly cricket and table tennis, than studies. But his father, Aniruddhsinh, who was in the army but later joined a private security agency as a watchman, wanted his son to join an army school near Jamnagar. “So I would ask my mother to intervene and convince him about my sporting ambitions as I was keen to become a cricketer,” Jadeja said.

His mother, Lata, a nurse in the civil hospital in Jamnagar, died in an accident in July 2005. The trauma affected Jadeja so much that he wanted to quit cricket. “It was my mother's dream as well to see me play for India,” he said. “I missed her a lot when I was first selected in the Indian team in 2009.”

Jadeja's cricket talent, and the money that followed after he started playing for India, has changed his family's financial and social status. Jadeja, who was snapped up by Chennai Sup er Kings for $2 million at the auctions of the fifth edition of the lucrative Indian Premier League earlier this year, has developed a taste for swanky cars and other luxuries. The player, who once did not have a bicycle, now owns a Hayabusa, a souped-up Suzuki motorcycle. His teammates say they will not be surprised if he buys a yacht.

Last year he bought a steed, but since he cannot keep the animal at home, he has bought a farmhouse on the outskirts of Jamnagar. And he has now followed in the footsteps of the star Indian cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly by starting his own restaurant, called Jaddu's Food Field, in Rajkot.

“Earlier, I used to play with toys,” he said. “But I've developed a passion for real cars and bikes.”