‘Long way to go’ – Ravindra Jadeja brushes off rumours around his Test retirement

Reports of Ravindra Jadeja planning to retire from Test cricket have been doing the rounds for quite a while now. It was learned that the all-rounder wanted to quit the longest format in order to focus on his career in white-ball cricket. One of Jadeja’s teammates had told a leading news portal that the veteran might bid adieu to Test cricket.

Amidst all the chaos and the speculations, the Saurashtra-born has responded. Jadeja uploaded a picture where he can be seen wearing the Test jersey and donning his India cap as well. He captioned the picture and wrote, ‘Long way to go’. The picture clearly indicates that despite being 33 years old, he might have quite a few years of Test cricket left in him.

Ravindra Jadeja’s post

Jadeja recently took part in the two-match Test series against New Zealand that India won 1-0. However, after playing the opening Test at the Green Park in Kanpur, he missed the second Test at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai due to a forearm injury. He couldn’t make the cut for India’s three-match Test series against South Africa as well.

India’s tour of South Africa starts on December 26 with the opening Test to be played at the SuperSport Park in Centurion. India have gone in with the spin-bowling options of Ravi Ashwin and Jayant Yadav on the tour. Axar Patel missed the miss as well along with Jadeja.

Jadeja has been an integral part of India’s Test setup after he made his debut in the format back in December 2012. In 57 Tests, the left-armer has picked up 232 wickets with 10 four-wicket hauls and nine five-wicket hauls to show for his efforts. Along with Ashwin, Jadeja has given nightmares to a number of batters, especially in India.

In the last three years or so, Jadeja has grown leaps and bounds in the batting department as well. The southpaw has already notched 2195 runs at an average of 33.76 with one century and 17 half-centuries.

In fact, there have been times when skipper Virat Kohli have promoted him above the likes of Wriddhiman Saha. Jadeja has also played 168 ODIs and 55 T20Is for the Men in Blue.