Ravindra Jadeja back in the mix

   
Sunil Gavaskar made a rather interesting point during commentary in the third ODI in Rajkot on Sunday. The former India captain reckoned that making sporting pitches in domestic cricket was a good thing, but not the kind in which matches get over inside two-and-a-half days.
He was probably referring to Saurashtra's two Ranji Trophy games in Rajkot, where they routed Tripura and Jharkhand inside two and three days, respectively. It was in these two matches that Ravindra Jadeja bagged 24 wickets, a feat that has brought him back into the Indian team for the first two Tests against South Africa. A cursory look at the scorecards of both the games indicate that the Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground offered a rank turner for Jadeja to weave his magic on.
The result? 'Sir' Jadeja returned figures of 6/27, 5/45, 6/71, 7/55, sprinkled by a 91 and 58 with the bat as an add-on. If statistics had their way, the 26-year-old deserved a red-carpet welcome into the Test squad. But going by Gavaskar's logic, do these kind of pitches give a fall sense of confidence to the bowler? Certainly, pitches in Mohali and Bengaluru – the venue for the first two Tests – will not be nearly as spin-friendly as Rajkot. By the looks of it, however, the national selectors are hoping that's not the case.
"We don't discuss just 15 players. We do consider domestic performances," Sandeep Patil, India's chairman of selectors, said in New Delhi on Monday when asked about the reason for picking Jadeja after 14 months. "At the same time, we look at whether that particular player will fit into the slot, whether that particular player will be useful to the team and the kind of wickets we are supposed to playing on in the forthcoming Test series. So, looking at all these angles, we picked Jadeja."
The selectors want Jadeja to inflict the same kind of damage to the South Africans that he did to the Australians in 2012-13. In the four Tests against the Aussies at home, Jadeja picked up 24 wickets at an average of 17.46. The plan, thus, seems clear as far as the selectors are concerned: prepare wickets that turn, and unleash the Indian spinners – R Ashwin, Amit Mishra and Jadeja – on the Proteas.
Jadeja's selection meant that Harbhajan Singh's fairytale comeback to the Indian Test team was a short-lived one. The 35-year-old offie looked a pale shadow of his former self – and indeed Ashwin – in the only Test he played in Sri Lanka in Galle. The rest of the Test squad has not been tampered with from the one that toured the island nation.
Patil also confirmed that Ashwin, who suffered a side strain in Kanpur, will be fully fit once the Test series begins on November 5.
"We have got a report from the Indian team physio. His fitness test will be conducted just before the fourth ODI (in Chennai on October 22). But he is certainly fit for the Test series," he said, adding that pace spearhead Ishant Sharma will also be fit for the second Test in Bengaluru.
Meanwhile, the selectors made just one change in the ODI squad for the remaining two ODIs in Chennai and Mumbai, bringing in seamer Sreenath Aravind for the out-of-form Umesh Yadav.
SQUADS
Last two ODIs: MS Dhoni (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Axar Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Stuart Binny, Ambati Rayudu, Mohit Sharma, Rohit Sharma, S Aravind, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Amit Mishra, Harbhajan Singh
First two Tests: Virat Kohli (C), Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, R Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul, Stuart Binny, Varun Aaron, Ishant Sharma
Board President's XI: Cheteshwar Pujara (C), KL Rahul, Unmukt Chand, Karun Nair, Shreyas Iyer, Naman Ojha, Hardik Pandya, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Sheldon Jackson, Karn Sharma, Nathu Singh
JADEJA IN TEST SERIES AT HOME
Year Opposition Mat Wickets Best Runs HS
2012-13 England 1 3 2/58 12 12
2012-13 Australia 4 24 5/58 85 43
N ZONE
24
No. of wickets Jadeja picked up in the two Ranji Trophy games this season. His figures read: 6/27 & 5/45 against Tripura and 6/71 & 7/55 against Jharkhand
14
No. of months after which Jadeja is making a comeback into the Test squad. He last played a Test against England in Manchester in August 2014, taking 1/36