Jaddu joins elite club

When a shy reticent boy emerged on the international cricket scene from Jamnagar the land of Ranji and Duleep little did anybody realise how far he would travel and how much success and popularity he would garner He has had his ups and downs but has always stayed positive and returned stronger His effervescent character earned him the nickname Sir Jadeja Thatrsquos how hersquos known on social mediaNo 11 Ahmed a special scalpWhen Ravindra Jadeja dismissed Bangladesh No 11 Khaled Ahmed on the fourth day of the second Test here yesterday he was ecstatic Instead of a ball if he had a bat in his hands he would have celebrated in his traditional way by swinging the willow like a sword Usually getting the last man out isnrsquot a big deal but this wicket was special as it brought up his 300th Test wicket With this achievement he became only the third Indian and 11th player in the world to complete the rare double of 3000plus runs and 300 wickets in Test cricket He is the second fastest to the landmark in his 74th Test only two games more than the great allrounder Ian Botham The other two Indians are Kapil Dev 83 Tests and Ravichandran Ashwin 88 Jadeja also became the seventh Indian bowler to reach the 300wicket landmark and the only leftarm spinner to do so leaving behind the likes of Bishan Bedi and Dilip DoshiIt is said that bowlers hunt in pairs and Jadejarsquos partner in crime has been Ashwin Time and again the two have formed a formidable pair to bring glory to Indian cricket on many occasions especially on home soil As we saw in the previous Test in Chennai the duo first batted gallantly to bail out the floundering Indian innings by putting on a massive 199run partnership and then collected nine of the 10 wickets in the second innings to help India record a massive 280run win The two have been involved in many such famous victories The duo have become Indiarsquos most successful Test bowling pair with over 550 wickets in tandem from 55 matches together Besides featuring in 74 Tests Jadeja has been part of 46 wins mdash the seventhmost among Indians Jadeja is the only player in the world to record 2000 runs and 200 wickets in a Test matchwinning cause a feat that even greats like Gary Sobers Jacques Kallis Botham Kapil and Imran Khan have not achievedAlso ReadIndia go bang bangHumble beginningsJadeja first gained prominence as the vicecaptain of the Indian U19 team that won the World Cup in Malaysia in 2008 under the captaincy of former India captain Virat Kohli He made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka in February 2009 and scored an unbeaten 60 off 77 balls However his Test debut came almost four years later in December 2012 against England at Nagpur Though it took him some time to make his Test debut in a journey of 14 years he has scaled many a peak and would like to attain a few more landmarks before he finally calls it a dayJadeja cherishes lsquospecialrsquo featRavindra Jadeja could not hide his delight after reaching the milestone of 300 wickets in Test cricket expressing that the moment ldquowill forever remainrdquo with him Jadeja became the seventh Indian bowler to reach the coveted mark ldquoItrsquos special when you achieve something for India Irsquove been playing Tests for 10 years and finally Irsquove reached this milestone Irsquove done well and Irsquom proud of myself and feeling happy and goodrdquo Jadeja said