Ajay Jadeja’s career may not have ended properly.! But before all that happened, he was the heartthrob of this nation..This handsome man was such a favorite among Indian cricket fans in the 90s.
Ajay Jadeja was a handy cricketer for the team, a one-day specialist batsman who plundered balls from the back of the Indian innings, one of the best fielders the country has ever produced and a decent part-time medium pace bowler. Moreover, to add to his contribution to cricket, Jadeja also served as the vice-captain of the team. Jadeja also led his team in 13 ODIs and managed to win 8 matches.
Born into the Navanagar royal family, Jadeja’s relatives include KS Ranjit Sinji and KS Duleep Sinji. Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy are even named after them. So it was no surprise that Ajay Jadeja found his place in Indian cricket.
He played 196 ODIs for India between 1992 and 2000, becoming one of India’s star batsmen. An outstanding cricketer who represented India as a regular in the team, he played for 8 years and scored 5259 ODI runs at a respectable strike rate of over 70.
For a generation that grew up watching cricket in the 90s, Ajay Jadeja was also a man of Indian dreams. Even though he was nowhere near as celebrated as Sachin Tendulkar, Azharuddin or Sourav Ganguly, he was loved by Indian fans.
He was a lower-order batsman who was often entrusted with the responsibility of ending matches or giving India a quick score. Known as a menace in the slog overs, the former right-handed batsman was India’s representative in completing the finishing overs in most of the matches during that time.
So his contributions in the fan circles were also great at that time.
In 196 ODIs for India, he batted at Nos. 5 and 6 in the batting order on 111 occasions, making him one of the best players in the world at the time. Although his lack of great technique is a technical barrier to survive in the Test arena, he has been effective in the shorter format, fighting against fast bowling, and has had little competitive representation.
He had the ability to take singles at will and it was not difficult to tough it out in the runs between the wickets. At the very least, Jadeja was a calculating player who knew exactly how to manage the game. Last but not the least he was a great improviser and had the acumen to find gaps in the latter stages of the innings. Jadeja scored a total of 6 centuries in 196 ODIs.
One of his most famous innings was his 45 against Pakistan’s Waqar Younis in the 1996 World Cup quarter-final to take India to a mammoth score of 287. It took just 25 deliveries to propel India’s target to unfathomable heights with Deathover in a fiercely contested match at Chinnaswamy. India won the match by 39 runs.
Some of such immortal innings by Jadeja are added here
Who can forget his legendary innings of 119 (off 121 balls) against Sri Lanka in 1997!. There he, along with Mohammad Azharuddin (111 off 117 balls), took India to the brink of a stunning victory despite losing the match by just 2 runs. That too, a match in which the top order was reduced to 64-4 for 4 while chasing 302 runs at a time when three hundreds were unattainable!.
105 not out against Australia (April 1, 1998)
Ajay Jadeja put on a 4th wicket stand of 104 runs with Azharuddin to help India score 309 runs. It was also considered a difficult score to reach in those days. The No. 5 batsman took just 109 balls to get there with a knock innings that included 12 boundaries.
116 not out against Zimbabwe (April 9, 1998)
Again a brilliant partnership between Ajay Jadeja and Mohammad Azharuddin took India from 26 for 3 to 301 for no loss. His innings consisted of 6 boundaries and two sixes, meaning Jadeja had a lot of running between the wickets. Jadeja is even known by that name.
104 v West Indies (November 9, 1994)
West Indies set India a target of 252 and it was a match where Jadeja opened the innings with Sachin Tendulkar. With Sachin, he formed a crucial partnership of 176 runs and made the target of victory very easy. When Jadeja was out there was little for the other batsmen to do.
103 v Sri Lanka (March 30, 1999)
India scored 286 runs in Pune on the strength of Jadeja’s 103 runs while playing at number four. Jadeja reached the target in just 102 balls. 6 fours and 3 sixes led to the century. A partnership with Amey Khurasia was the highlight of the match.
Another atrocious innings that not many remember or are likely to forget was his 44-ball 61 against New Zealand in 1995….
In total, in Jadeja’s career 38 successful run-chases for India, the right-hander scored 662 runs at an average of 47.28 with the help of four half-centuries.
Ajay Jadeja was eventually banned by the BCCI for 5 years after a CBI investigation found him guilty of match-fixing in 2000 through a scandalous link-up with match-fixing. Jadeja went to court against that decision and the ban was lifted by the Delhi High Court in 2003 due to lack of evidence following further investigation into the matter. However, despite not being able to compete for the country later, domestic and international competition was restored.
His status would have been even more stark had it not been for a 5-year ban that ended his career at the age of just 29 following suspicions of an infamous match-fixing scandal.
No one will ever forget him who saw his least immortal moments in his cricketing career when he had to end without a perfect path to a great cricketer interrupted.!
Written by: Shameel Salah
2023-08-19 10:56:40
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