Ravindra Jadeja's Debut - Rags to Trolls to Riches

We all know him as Ravinder Jadeja, er... sir Ravinder Jadeja (now that he’s said it that he has no objection to people calling him Sir, I’m going to use it). Fathom a journey. A journey starting with being the son of a security watchman. Then moving forward, losing your mother at the age of 17 and contemplating leaving cricket due to the shock and grief, an elder sister working as a nurse and helping a brother fight for a spot in the cricket team of a country of more than a billion where every youngster, rich and poor, talented and crude, wants to play for the national cricket team.

From all this to playing for the Under-19 teams, playing in the Ranji, getting selected for the ‘men in blue’, getting criticized for not being able to satisfy millions of crazy cricket fans, being given the tag of ‘Sir’ mockingly, being made fun of on almost all social media platforms. Finally, bouncing back in the national squad, earning the distinction of being only the fourth Indian bowler to have ranked no. 1 in the ICC rankings and shutting the ever-yapping mouths of critics and haters alike by performing to finally being a regular and most valued player of the best IPL team featuring the likes of MS Dhoni,Suresh Raina, Michael Hussey,Dwayne Smith, etc. , and last but not the least- being the genuine all-rounder India yearned for after Kapil Dev, being praised by the likes of Sunil Gavaskar in the process and being a regular in the most popular and one of the best cricketing sides in the world-The Indian Cricket Team. What you read just now was not a mere fictional story but the real-life struggle of Ravindra Jadeja.

Jadeja remembering his mother

Jadeja made his debut on 8th February 2009, against Sri Lanka in the last match of a series already won by India, having taken a 4-0 lead. Though India lost the match, Jadeja score an impressive 60 runs and bowled 6 overs conceding 40 runs without taking a wicket. He was picked owing to his performance in the 2008-09 Ranji Trophy in which he played for Saurashtra, scoring 739 runs and taking 42 wickets. After this debut, he didn’t play for some time but returned around late 2009 as a replacement for Yusuf pathan who was suffering from a dry patch in his career. He took 4 wickets against Sri Lanka in Cuttack and was awarded Man of the Match. He then won his place back in the side in the ODI series against England in which he performed well in a couple of matches. Soon after he scored 3 triple centuries in the Ranji trophy and was called for the Test squad for the series against England. His high point came when he took 24 wickets in the Test series against Australia in Feb-March 2013 and made Clarke his bunny by dismissing him 5 out of six times in the series.

Jadeja with his sister who’s more like a mother to him

Though he was criticized for his performances in the 2009 ICC World T-20 and the Sir jokes started making fun of him but he came back strongly to be ranked as the no. 1 ODI bowler and the no. 2 ODI all-rounder. Now his performances for Chennai Super Kings and Indian team have almost made him an indespensible member thanks to his tight bowling, ability to hit the ball out of the park when it matters and his fielding which in many critics’ opinion is the best among all Indian players ever. Next time you troll him, just consider what all he has been through and how valiantly he has secured his place in the team but then again, he’s a man with a funny tolerant bone and maintained that he never had any problems with the Sir prefix if it made people laugh and happy. he truly deserves being called ‘Sir Ravindra Jadeja’.