Ravindra Jadeja’s old video resurfaces after he scores century, picks fifer in same Test against Sri Lanka
Jadeja scored an unbeaten 175 and followed it up with 5/41 in the first innings against Sri Lanka in Mohali.
Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been the showstopper in Mohali against Sri Lanka in the first Test of the two-Test series after scoring an unbeaten 175 and doubling it up with a five-wicket haul to cap off a perfect all-rounder performance.
With this, the all-rounder joined an elite list of cricketers who have the precious double of notching up a century and taking a fifer in the same innings of a Test. However, he had his eyes on achieving the feat since long, as is confirmed by a resurfaced video where he had expressed his wish to achieve the feat before translating it into a reality.
Only two other Indians – Vinoo Makad (184 and 5/196 against England in 1952) and Polly Umrigar (172* and 5/107 against West Indies in 1962) – have previously scripted the rare double. Others on the list are Denis Atkinson (219 & 5/56 – vs Australia in 1955), Gary Sobers (174 & 5/41 – vs England in 1966) and Mushtaq Mohammad (201 & 5/49 – vs New Zealand in 1973).
“Scoring a century and picking a five-wicket haul in the same innings,” Jadeja had told ESPNcricinfo in an interaction when asked about a “cricketing record you’d like to have at the end of your career”. Much far away from the end of his career, it is certain Jadeja will go on to script many more such records with the kind of form he has been in.
Meanwhile, he did not stop at five and added three more wickets to his tally in the second innings until the second session, with a potential chance to achieve an unprecedented feat of scoring 150-plus runs and bagging a 10-for in a Test.
Jadeja’s cruel assault with the bat followed by an impeccable show with the ball, meanwhile, has disarrayed Sri Lanka, who have an innings defeat looming on their head after being made to follow on as they tumbled out for a paltry 174 in response to India’s mammoth tally of 574/8 declared.
The narrative did not change in the second innings, with Jadeja and R Ashwin partnering to continue denting Sri Lanka, who only have two wickets in hands with a mountain of 247 runs to climb to avoid an innings defeat (at the time of writing).
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