Jadeja and the curse of being so good

Ravindra Jadeja is a cricketer's cricketer. Barring certain freakish geniuses, he is the first name many want on their team sheet. He is a solid, dependable player who contributes in many different ways.

Everything he does - barring wielding his bat like a sword which can break weaker wrists - looks effortless and repeatable. As a bowler, he can hit the good length straight out of the bed, and can keep hitting it until he draws water out of the ground. He is a sensational fielder in the outfield.

As a batter, Jadeja doesn't need to premeditate or make trigger movements. A lot of it is just physical gifts that he has honed and trained. He hardly ever looks hurried. His batting is pure. He just reacts to what is bowled, as coaches teach you at grassroots levels. If it is short, go back. If it is full, go forward. If it is wide, leave it alone. Score off bad balls, keep good balls out.

For years now, Jadeja has been the premier allrounder in the most demanding format of the game. He is also perhaps the closest to being an allrounder in the classic sense of the word. He can be genuinely picked as a specialist top-six batter in almost all conditions. He can be selected as a bowler alone in most conditions, barring ones that make it impossible for spinners to bowl in.

Since Jadeja's debut, only five men have bowled more deliveries in Test cricket. His batting took time to come along, but he is averaging 42.01 since 2018, the year in which he scored his first century. That is in the top 20 among those who have scored at least 2000 runs in this period.

Yet, to the casual observer, Jadeja hasn't delivered that one memorable performance to remember him by. It is the curse of being so good. When you win, you win big. His countless five-fors and runs at home are completely taken for granted in popular memory largely because they are not done in the epic matches that - no offence to him - Ben Stokes does, for example. Or Andrew Flintoff before him.

This Test at Lord's - a venue where Jadeja scored 68 priceless but chancy runs 11 years ago and clinched the match-winning run-out - was an opportunity for him to finally give storytellers a story to back his numbers with. He is just what this young, inexperienced unit needs. Just someone old-school to drive home the advantage they are capable of getting.

This was Jadeja's fourth straight half-century in four innings. At a time when it was not easy to think straight, he calmed India down with his solid batting. When he went in, India had almost lost the match. Yet again, a Test they had been the better team for longer periods in. When Jadeja went to lunch, he had lost Nitish Kumar Reddy, the last recognised batter he had. India still needed 81 runs for the win. He scored 61 of the 99 runs that came while he was at the wicket. He faced over 30 overs out of the 55 bowled in that time.

Jadeja is so old-school and so naturally gifted that he has not had to constantly upgrade himself. Sometimes it frustrates those who watch him. He still defends spin with his bat beside the pad, something that has been erased out of the game with DRS taking over. Still, his basics are so good that he is one of the best Test players going around.

It is this strength that can become a slight weakness at times. Let's firstly get it clear that Lord's doesn't really have pockets to hit twos into. The square is lush, and it is not easy to use the bowler's place to run the ball behind square. The balls are soft; even Rishabh Pant doesn't charge against the old ones because there is no guarantee they will travel.

So once England set defensive fields for Jadeja, he was handcuffed. He doesn't play the reverse sweeps and the ramps and the kind. With traditional shots, it was difficult to find twos and gaps in the spread-out field to transfer the pressure back on England. It was almost a situation of taking it one run an over, provided the Nos. 10 and 11 hold their end up for one or two balls every over.

Jadeja, though, was prepared to do it in singles. He clearly calculated these were not conditions where he could take the risk. He had the discipline and the physical strength to keep turning up over after over, and back himself to be the last man standing. He kept the sword celebration aside when he reached fifty.

What started as just a "let's see how far we can get" ended up as a heartbreakingly close defeat. Jadeja came this close to sealing his place in popular legend. A story mothers would tell their babies on their laps. It was not to be. His strengths brought him close. They perhaps kept him from attaining the ultimate win. People will argue whether he should have taken risks. There is no straight answer.

Jadeja didn't show much emotion when the ball wickedly bounced onto the leg stump off a seemingly solid defensive shot from Mohammed Siraj, who was on his haunches and almost injured himself punching his bat. As if asking it, "What did I do wrong to deserve this?"

A lot in life is about turning up. About being there. With equanimity. Jadeja has faced a lot of heartbreak in his life, including the World Cup semi-final six years ago in this country when he again nearly won India a lost match. Jadeja knows more than most about the value of turning up. His team has been the better team over way more time than their opposition in the series against England. Yet, they find themselves behind 2-1. If India need any inspiration to turn up and repeat doing the good stuff in Manchester, it is Jadeja.