Restaurateur,
rockstar, fielder, bowler and batsman, in that order Ravindra Jadeja’s strength and talent is at the moment. In his formative years, junior cricket days to be precise, fondly known as Jaddu
was touted to don the senior blues well before his peers would. His good left
arm slow bowling and more than decent batting played a big role in the U-19
World Cup winning campaign in Kuala Lumpur a good five years back, in 2008.
And
living up to the reputation, Jadeja made his debut in the shorter and shortest
format in Feb 2009. While he was supposed to be best suited and excel in those conditions.
He hasn’t really set the stage on fire. Numbers don’t support him, well ignore
that. Worse, he was on the other side of the fence on more than one occasion.
The
bungee jump happened from May 7, 2010 to be precise. As 2007 World T20 champions,
India were not even close to be the side to beat. And to add to the woes,
Australia, a force not to reckon in this format, hammered us to submission.
Jadeja's TRP got the biggest beating since then.
At
Bridgetown, Aussies batting first clobbered the Saurashtra’s pride for 38 odd
runs in his two overs. This included conceding six consecutive sixes. Shane Watson
took the honours first in the third over of the match, swatting Jadeja’s last
three balls for max. Dhoni threw the white cherry again to Jadeja a few overs
later and then David Warner send the first three balls over the fence for
maximum.
India
lost the game convincingly enough with only Rohit Sharma showing glimpses of his
exceptional talent, but in a wasted cause.
What
dented Jadeja’s case further was the ‘Rockstar’ branding by Shane Warne. I
remember, as a journalist then, when the team landed at the Mumbai
International Airport after a poor run at World T20 in 2010, Jadeja was subject
to some hostile crowd throwing choicest of abuses. He was obviously not amused
but little he could do.
Puns
were flying high on social media and regular one too. The worse was still to
come. Trying to find a more lucrative deal with Mumbai Indians while still
being contracted to Rajasthan Royals, the dude got banned from 2010 season of
Indian Premier League (IPL). His ‘Rockstar’ script was becoming similar to that
of the movie ‘Rockstar’.
He
quit Royals and joined the ever-controversial and now banned Kochi Kerala
Tuskers team. Scored runs, saved runs, took wickets and earned to be a regular
member in the national T20 side. But he didn’t have statistics supporting him, leave
aside the purists. But luck, Dhoni and Srinivasan didn’t desert him. The Gujju
boy hit jackpot contract worth $2 million with Chennai Super Kings.
To
pledge his commitment to the team, he got an awful hair cut and etched Chennai
Super Kings in hair do. God! Really! Is that what a ‘Rockstar’ is like? Was he
trying to be the Chris Gayle of India, be cool, be different types. He just
about did everything to ensure he is never on the right side of the fence.
In
the age, where Twitter is the platform where fates of every star, celeb,
wannabes is made and broken, Jadeja has had the honour of trending even without
a match being played. And the moment he has the willow or the five and a half
ounce leather in his hands, its finger licking time for Twitterati. Well, he doesn’t
have to care much. But then why not be a cricketer first? That’s why we love to
hate Jadeja so much maybe.
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