Manchester | Ravindra Jadeja is thriving in the role of a senior statesman of the young Indian cricket team following the retirements of the 'big three'.
Alongside R Ashwin, he was the architect of India's umpteen Test wins at home but his accomplishments stayed off the radar. Virat Kohli was the undisputed superstar of that team.
Now with Ashwin, Kohli and Rohit Sharma hanging their boots, Jadeja is by far the senior most member of the side. Yet, he remains unassuming about his ways and does his job efficiently, especially with the bat in the ongoing series in England.
When Shubman Gill was appointed Test captain, those in favour of Jasprit Bumrah expressed their opinion but Jadeja, a veteran of 83 games, was never part of the debate.
"Captaincy ka time ab chala gaya," said Jadeja in his inimitable style during the Edgbaston Test when asked about his ambitions in the leadership role.
He made 89 and 69 not out in that famous win in Birmingham before racking up two more fifty plus scores in the following Test. His 61 not out at Lord's almost took India over the line as he batted sensibly with Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj to take the game deep from 112 for eight.
The 36-year-old has defended as well as anyone in the series and when needed, has used the long handle to good effect. He remains the best fielder and though he was able to extract some turn both at Edgbaston and Lord's, wickets have eluded him in the series.
Besides being invaluable in all facets of the game, Jadeja is also mentoring the young blood in the team and of late has developed a strong bond with Kuldeep Yadav, who has been warming up the bench since the start of the series despite the clamour for his inclusion.
After the heartbreak of Lord's, captain Gill highlighted Jadeja's immense value as the ultimate team man.
"He is one of the most valuable players in India. The experience that he brings in, the skill set that he brings with his bowling, batting and fielding is something that is very rare and hard to find. And the kind of composure that he showed today, it was just tremendous to watch," said Gill.
"I think batting with the lower order of the tail has been one of the things that we spoke about in the previous two matches... that our lower order of the tail hasn't been contributing as much. The character and the courage that they showed was tremendous."
Jadeja's exemplary commitment to the game doesn't stop at the highest level. When not on national duty, he makes it a point to turn up for Saurashtra.
"If Jaddu has his way, he will turn up for all district games also. Despite being one of the finest Test cricketers of India, he remains as humble as ever and lives a quiet life," said a veteran Saurashtra official.
When the Indian squad mingled with the Manchester United stars on the sidelines of the fourth Test, Jadeja expectedly took the back seat, staying true to his easy going personality.
Having arrived here on Saturday, Jadeja and the rest of the squad members had a closed door training session at Old Trafford. There is rain threat through the week but when the weather clears out, Jadeja will be the first one to put his hand up.
Manchester | Pacer Anshul Kamboj was on Sunday added to India squad as cover for Akash Deep and Arshdeep Singh, who are racing against time to be ready for the fourth Test against England, beginning here Wednesday.
Akash Deep, who is dealing with a groin niggle, played in the second and third Test against England at Birmingham and Lord's respectively, while left-arm pacer Arshdeep is yet to feature in a match in the on-going series.
According to sources, India all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy is also doubtful for the fourth match after sustaining a knee injury during a gym session on Sunday.
"Nitish suffered a knee injury during his training in gym today," a source said.
Reddy was part of the playing XI in the second and third Tests.
There is no clarity as yet on Akash Deep's availability, while Arshdeep is unlikely to be available for selection for the Manchester Test, and therefore the selectors decided to call Kamboj, PTI has learned.
Arshdeep copped a blow on his left hand while trying to stop a shot from Sai Sudharsan in his follow through during the net session at Beckenham on Thursday, which necessitated the bandaging of his bowling arm.
"We'll take a call on the combination we play, particularly given the Arshdeep situation as well, we'll make that call closer to Manchester," assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate had said.
“He took a ball while he was bowling…it’s just a cut, so we have to see how bad the cut is. Obviously the medical team has taken him off to see a doctor and obviously if he needs stitches or doesn't need stitches that's going to be important to our planning for the next few days,” he added.
The 24-year-old Kamboj is a worthy addition to the squad after his impressive effort for India A against the England Lions in two side games prior to the Test series.
He took five wickets across four innings at Northampton and Canterbury while moving the ball appreciably and finding disconcerting bounce on occasions.
The Haryana pacer is a hit the deck seam bowler and is being looked as a future prospect as Mukesh Kumar is already on the wrong side of 30s while Harshit Rana is yet to find his strides in red ball cricket.
Kamboj shot into fame after taking all 10 wickets in an innings against Kerala last year in a Ranji Trophy match at Lahli.
He is only the third bowler to achieve that feat in the Ranji Trophy after Bengal’s Premangsu Chatterjee (1956-57) and Rajasthan’s Pradeep Somasundaram (1985-86).
Overall, he took 34 wickets from six matches in the last edition of the premier domestic red-ball tournament.