Indian cricket team all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja made his long-awaited comeback to competitive cricket with a brilliant seven-wicket haul for Saurashtra during their Ranji Trophy encounter against Tamil Nadu. Jadeja, who missed a considerable amount of cricket due to injury, celebrated the occasion by posting a picture of the match-ball which had his bowling figures written on it along with his own match hat. The caption given with the picture read - "First cherry of the season. #redcherry,"
Jadeja announced his comeback from injury with a bang after he scalped seven wickets in the 2nd innings of the ongoing Ranji Trophy fixture against Tamil Nadu on Thursday.
The left-arm spinner ran through the Tamil Nadu batting order in their 2nd innings, scalping 7 wickets while conceding just 53 runs in the 17.1 overs that he bowled. Jadeja only took one wicket in the first innings and was under pressure to do well to be considered for the playing eleven in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar series against Australia.
Jadeja claimed the wickets of Sai Sudharsan, Narayan Jagadeesan, M Shahrukh Khan, Baba Aparajith, Baba Indrajith, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, Vijay Shankar, Ajith Ram and Manimaran Siddharth.
The star all-rounder, through his spell, demonstrated that he was more than ready and in the groove to be picked in the playing eleven against the Baggy Greens in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Jadeja also scored 15 runs in the first innings of his side.
The national selectors had made his selection to the playing eleven subject to his fitness and physical condition in domestic cricket.
Jadeja had to leave Asia Cup last September to undergo surgery on his right knee. The injury caused him to miss the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia, where India bowed out in the semis after a humiliating ten-wicket loss to England.
The selectors named him in the 17-man Test squad for the first half of the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which starts in Nagpur on February 9. The second Test of the series will be played in Delhi followed by the final two Tests in Dharamsala and Ahmedabad.
Talking about the Ranji match, Saurashtra is attempting to chase 266 runs. They will have their work cut out for them because it is a difficult pitch. In the first innings, Saurashtra was bowled out for 192 runs. On the final day of the chase, captain Jadeja will be crucial to the outcome.
(With ANI inputs)