Former India opener Gautam Gambhir has made a bold claim about Ravindra Jadeja’s sensational 175*-run knock against Sri Lanka. In the opening Test match at Mohali, Jadeja registered his highest-ever Test score to laid the foundation of India’s massive win. The southpaw received praises from the cricketing community as became the sixth player to score 150-plus and claim 5 wickets in a Test match.
However, the former India opener feels a 40-50 run knock in overseas conditions like Australia will boost Jadeja’s confidence more than the 175 against Sri Lanka.
“I feel the innings Ravindra Jadeja played in Australia or the knocks he has played outside India, he will get more confidence from that. Stats can be very misleading,” Gambhir said on Star Sports.
“There was a time after the century where he was just milking – Dhananjaya de Silva, (Charith) Asalanka and (Lasith) Embuldeniya were bowling but if you talk about Australia or England, the 40 or 50-run contributions there are probably much more important than this innings,” he said.
Jadeja broke the long-standing Kapil Dev’s record of most runs by an Indian, batting at number 7 or below. Kapil scored 163 runs against Sri Lanka in 1986.
Gambhir feels that Jadeja’s useful contributions in difficult circumstances played a crucial role in scoring a mammoth 175* against Sri Lanka.
“These 175 runs are the by-product of how Ravindra Jadeja has batted in overseas conditions. You only see the end result but the lead up to these 175 runs, there has been a lot of effort put in that, he scored runs in very difficult circumstances and conditions and that is why he got a chance at No. 6 or No. 7,” he said.
He further cited an interesting point that if Jadeja had failed in overseas conditions then India might have played Ashwin up the order over him.
“If he had probably not scored runs in those conditions, the team management might have had the temptation to play someone else, probably Ashwin at No. 7. When you come after scoring runs in such difficult conditions, you get opportunities to improve your stats or your Test record,” said Gambhir.
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