Ravindra Jadeja made a dream comeback to the Indian ODI squad on Friday (21 September) against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup match in Dubai. Playing his first ODI match after 442 days, the Saurashtra all-rounder finished with figures of 4/29 in his 10 overs.
Rohit Sharma, who won the toss and opted to field, introduced Jadeja in the 10th over and the left-arm leggie struck in his very first over, picking up the important wicket of Shakib-ul-Hasan. Later, Jadeja went onto pick up the wickets of Bangladesh’s in-form skipper Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Mithun and Mosaddek Hossain.
Jadeja’s last appearance for India in the blue jersey was way back in 2017, against Windies at Sabina Park on July 6. In the Asia Cup, Jadeja replaced Hardik Pandya, who was stretchered off during India’s last match against Pakistan after he suffered a lower back injury.
Before the Asia Cup, Jadeja also made a return to the Indian Test side in the fifth and the final Test against England, earlier this month. He ended up picking seven wickets and made a very useful 86 not out with the bat.
Keeping the World Cup 2019 in mind, this great news for India as the team management is in the look out for spate of all-rounders. Till Wednesday, Hardik Pandya was India’s only option as a specialist all-rounder.
After a great show with the ball, a fantastic display with the bat will ensure a grand comeback for Jadeja.
As Jadeja spun the web around the Bangladeshi batsmen, Twitter went into celebratory mode to welcome the all-rounder back in the ODI fold.
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