The spin partnership between Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin has been extremely significant for the Indian cricket team in Test cricket. Recently, both cricketers provided crucial performances to guide their side to a historic win over England in the five-match Test series. Ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Jadeja had a special message for Ashwin and it had a special Rajnikanth connection. In the past, Ashwin has used a lot of references from Rajnikanth films in his YouTube videos.
“Hi Ash Anna, congratulations on your 100th Test match and 500 Test wickets. I am very, very happy for you, and your contribution to Indian cricket has been amazing. You can continue taking a lot of wickets and sharing your mastermind with me so that I can also take a few wickets and become a great legend like you,” Jadeja said in the video from a Chennai Super Kings training session.
“And we also share the same name as well. I am Ravi Indran and you're Ravi Chandran. Meesha vachavan Indran, meesha vaykathavan Chandran (The one with the moustache Indran and the one without the moustache, Chandran),” Jadeja said.
It was a reference to Rajnikanth's iconic double role in the 1981 Tamil movie ‘Thillu Mullu', a remake of a 1979 Bollywood movie 'Gol Maal'.
Ashwin and Jadeja are currently the most successful bowling pair in Test cricket with 542 wickets in 53 matches. The experienced duo have an average of taking 10.23 wickets per match - the best by any bowling pair in the longest format of the sport (among bowling pairs with more than 310 wickets).