India's star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is set to make his cricket comeback after a long hiatus right ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Test series. Jadeja, who was ruled out of the Asia Cup 2022 to undergo a right knee injury, will be seen playing in the Ranji Trophy match when his Saurashtra will take on Tamil Nadu on January 24.
Jadeja is currently at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore and is wrapping up his rehab. However, he was named India's 17-member strong squad for the first two of four-match Test series against Australia which will be played from February 9. The first Test will be played in Nagpur, second in Delhi while the rest of the matches will be played in Dharamsala and Ahmedabad.
However, his availability is still subject to fitness as a final call on him will be taken after monitoring him in the four-day Ranji Trophy match between Saurashtra and Tamil Nadu.
Jadeja last played his International match in the Asia Cup 2022 when India took on Hong Kong on August 31 as he played his last Test in the rescheduled one-off Test at Edgbaston against England last July. He has snared 82 wickets at an average 21.46 riding on three five-fers. Meanwhile while batting, he has scored 898 runs at an average of 52.82 on the back of two centuries and seven fifties in 19 Tests since 2017.
He could make a good pair with Ravichandran Ashwin to bolster India's spin attack in the quintessential four-match series against Australia which will pave India's path for the World Test Championship final.
India’s Test squad for the first two Tests against Australia: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R. Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav.
