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The pestering knee injury barred Ravindra Jadeja from taking to the cricket field for a long time as he couldn't feature for India in some of the big tournaments. The star India all-rounder was midway ruled out of the Asia Cup 2022 first and then missed the marquee T20 World Cup 2022 where dearly missed his presence.
Now, that he has recovered from the knee injury and is all set to display his top notch show in the cricket field in the upcoming Test series between India and Australia, Jadeja has revealed how tough it was to take a decision as to whether go for the knee surgery or not with the T20 World Cup around the corner.
The 34-year-old Jadeja said that his chances of playing during the T20 World Cup were less even if he had delayed his knee surgery then.
Jadeja said that his doctor advised him to get the surgery done before the T20 World Cup. Since then, he remained out of action until playing a Ranji Trophy match for Saurashtra. Jadeja returned with the figures of 7/53 in a Ranji Trophy match, which Tamil Nadu won by 59 runs against Saurashtra.
"I was eagerly waiting to make a comeback and play for India. I had been struggling with my knee for sometime, so surgery was needed. I had to take the decision whether to go for the surgery before the World Cup or after. Doctors advised me to do it before the World Cup because chances were less of playing at the World Cup had I not got the surgery done. So, I made up my mind to go for it," said Jadeja in a BCCI video.
The star southpaw also thanked and credited National Cricket Academy (NCA) physios and trainers for helping him in his journey to make a comeback for India. He also admitted how frustrating it was for him to stay on the sidelines while India were playing matches.
"Excited that I'm wearing the Indian jersey after more than five months. I have been blessed that I got a chance again. The (recovery) journey was quite up and down because if you stay away from cricket for five months then it is a little bit frustrating.
"Physios and trainers at the NCA have worked a lot on my knee and given me a lot of time. Even on off days (Sunday at NCA), they used to especially come for me. Hopefully from hereon everything will be good," Jadeja said.
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which will see a four-match Test series between India and Australia, is slated to kick off from February 9 in Nagpur.
Border Gavaskar Trophy 2023 schedule:
1st Test at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur - February 9-13
2nd Test at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi - February 17-21
3rd Test at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala - March 1-5
4th Test at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad - March 9-13
India’s squad for the first two Tests vs Australia: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav.
Australia Test squad for India tour: Pat Cummins (capt), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.
