3 Indians who have strengthened claims for a World Cup berth with performances in the Test series

#2 Ravindra Jadeja as the spinning all-rounder

Batting performance in Australia

Matches – 2, Innings – 3, Runs scored – 90, Avg – 30 50s -1

Bowling performance in Australia

Overs – 89, Maidens - 25 – Runs conceded – 200, wickets taken – 7

Ravindra Jadeja got his opportunity to play in the third Test at Melbourne after Ravichandran Ashwin got injured. Though he had nothing to contribute with the bat since he had to throw at his bat in both the innings before the declaration, it was with his bowling that Jadeja made all the difference in the first innings at Melbourne.

The presence of Jadeja had enabled Kohli to close one end up and rotate his fast bowlers at the other end. Apart from controlling the flow of runs, Jadeja did contribute with the crucial wickets of Usman Khawaja and Mitch Marsh in the first innings. In the second innings, Jadeja claimed the wickets of Marcus Harris, Mitch Marsh, and Tim Paine.

With that Jadeja made a huge contribution towards India winning the Melbourne Test which later resulted in India winning the series. He has reminded the team management what they missed in the second Test at Perth, though there were conflicting reports about his fitness for that Test. At Sydney, Jadeja made 81 with the bat and took the wickets of Marcus Harris and Shaun Marsh though rain denied India of a well-deserved win.

With his all-around performance in Australia, Jadeja has once again brought the selectors to notice to his multifaceted talent. Whatever little doubt the selectors have of selecting the third spinner in Jadeja for the World Cup squad has been put to rest with his performance. After Jadeja’s performances in Australia, if the selectors decide to go in with only two spinners for the World Cup in tune with the conditions prevalent in England, Jadeja will certainly be one of the two. Of course, the first choice spinner will be Kuldeep Yadav.

In such a scenario, It will be Yuzvendra Chahal’s turn to miss out as Jadeja is a far superior batsman and fielder than Chahal. In the 8 ODIs that Jadeja has played since his comeback in the Asia Cup, Jadeja has taken 14 wickets while Chahal in the same period and in the same number of matches has taken 11 wickets only.

With his consistent performance in Australia, Jadeja might have booked his place for the World Cup.