India’s in-form all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has become the second Indian to complete the rare double of 5,000 runs and 500 international wickets. Jadeja achieved the massive feat with the wicket of Australian opener Travis Head in the second session of second session of third Test at Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore.
India’s 1983 World Cup-winning skipper Kapil Dev was the first to achieve the feat. Dev has 9,031 runs and 687 wickets in international arena.
Jadeja has 2,619 runs in Tests, 2,447 runs in ODIs and 457 runs in T20Is. He has 189 wickets in ODIs, 51 in T20Is, 260 in Tests (after getting Head's wicket). He is expected to add to the tally in the ongoing Test where the ball is keeping low and turning square.
Overall, Jadeja became the 11th all-rounder to score 5,000 runs and 500 wickets in international arena. The other names on the list are England's Ian Botham, Pakistan's Imran Khan, Shahid Afridi and Wasim Akram, South Africa's Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock, New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori, Sri Lanka's Chaminda Vaas and Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan.
While Jadeja got the first breakthrough for India, he could not do much with the bat. He just scored four runs as he handed an easy catch to short cover fielder Matthew Kuhnemann off Nathan Lyon’s bowling. Jadeja threw his wicket away after he overturned on-field umpire’s call with the help of DRS.
The left-arm spinner could have got the second wicket for India in the second session as well. Marnus Labuschagne got bowled but Jadeja bowled a no ball. As a result, Labuschagne got a second chance and stitch a crucial partnership for Australia with opener Usman Khawaja. However, Jadeja got the wicket of Labuschagne in the third session.
Rewarded for taking 10 wickets in the Delhi Test including a career-best seven-fer in India’s six-wicket win, Jadeja moved up in bowler’s rankings. The southpaw is now ranked eighth in the bowling rankings. He climbed one spot to take a six-point lead over injured New Zealand pacer Kyle Jamieson.
