World Cup 2019: Maharaja Jamsaheb of Jamnagar salutes Ravindra Jadeja for his valiant efforts against New Zealand

Ravindra Jadeja’s inclusion in the Indian squad for the 2019 World Cup wasn’t a sure-shot one. But he made the cut for the mega event in England and Wales. The southpaw played a couple of warm-up matches against New Zealand and Bangladesh. In those games, he picked up a couple of wickets and scored 77 runs, but had to wait a long time to get an opportunity in the main round.

After more than a month’s wait, Jadeja broke into the eleven after India had qualified for the semi-final. The 30-year-old played the match against Sri Lanka at the Headingley in Leeds and got the important wicket of Kusal Mendis. He was also frugal, having conceded 40 runs in his spell of 10 overs to go with 37 dot balls. Jadeja was persisted with even in the semis against the Black Caps in Manchester.

Ravindra Jadeja rising to the occasion

At the Old Trafford in Manchester, he didn’t flatter to deceive by any stretch of the imagination, though India lost the match by 18 runs. After being put in to field first, Jadeja got rid of Henry Nicholls, who was starting to look ominous following a 50-plus stand with Kiwis’ skipper Kane Williamson. Jadeja rattled his woodwork to separate the duo. Yet again, he was economical with figures of 10-0-34-1.

However, it was with the bat that he made the most impact. New Zealand put forth a target of 240 for India to chase down after which they reduced India to 92/6 in 30.3 overs. Jadeja came to bat after Mitchell Santner got rid of Hardik Pandya. He put his head down initially but accelerated gradually. He was involved with a partnership of 116 runs along with the experienced MS Dhoni.

The left-hander notched 77 runs off 59 deliveries with the help of four boundaries and as many sixes. Unfortunately, left-arm bowler, Trent Boult dismissed him in the 48th over. Despite India’s defeat, Jadeja garnered a lot of praises and appreciation for the cricketing fraternity.

In the meantime, the knock also impressed Maharaja Jamsaheb of Nawanagar, who wrote a letter to Jadeja. In the letter, the Maharaja said it was a pity that India lost, but he congratulated Jadeja for the masterful inning.

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Kind words from maharaja jamsaheb of jamnagar🙏 #respect #Shatrusalyasinhji #proudmoment

A post shared by Ravindra Jadeja (@royalnavghan) on Jul 13, 2019 at 2:22am PDT