Our Bureau
New Delhi
Ravindra Jadeja was recently seen chatting with his spin twin Ravichandran Ashwin on Ashwin’s podcast – “Kutti Stories with Ash”. Jadeja talked about his career, achievements and a lot more things in the podcast but what caught the audience’s attention was how the left-arm spinner talked about his former Indian captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Sir Jadeja, as he is often called, was talking about how the wicket-keeping legend has helped him throughout his career and has played a very important role in shaping him as a player. Jadeja who has played under Dhoni’s captaincy for both India and Chennai was asked to describe the legend in one word. Jadeja’s reply to the question is what melted the hearts of all the fans. Jadeja said, “There is no one word to describe his greatness. He is on top of everyone.”
He told how he once told Dhoni as well that there have been two Mahendras who can sum up his cricket journey in whole. One being Dhoni and the other being his childhood coach Mahendra Singh Chauhan.
Jadeja recalled the story and said, “I started playing in Jamnagar, at a ground called ‘Cricket Bungalow’, at the age of 8-9. My coach, who is still training at the same ground, is also from Bihar and his name is Mahendra Singh Chauhan. I have told this to Mahi bhai as well that my cricket journey is between two Mahendras – Mahendra Singh Chauhan & Mahendra Singh Dhoni.”
Ashwin also asked Jadeja about playing under Virat Kohli in the Test format and how he adjusted to the red-ball format. Jadeja spoke about how he thought that he was going to be a white-ball player and never imagined the success he would bag in the Tests. He talked about Virat’s positive approach in Test cricket and admired his never give up attitude.
“It was his positive approach – especially in Tests – the special thing about Virat is that he always wanted the team to pick 20 wickets in a Test match, so he never gives up at all. Be it a three-hour session or 45 overs left, he would still want to pick up all 10 wickets of the opposition,” Jadeja said.
