IND vs ENG: Why a more aggressive batting approach could benefit Ravindra Jadeja and India

‘Ravindra Jadeja, lekin voh idhar nahi pada (but he didn’t study here)’ the sentry at the gate of the famous The Rajkumar College in Rajkot, the alumni includes Ranjitsinghji, Duleepsinhji, Ajay Jadeja, five other Test cricketers and several first-class players, announces grandly about his favourite player in the Indian team.

The sun has begun to sink, the college has just shut for the day, and the man who will guard nothingness in the nights perks up: ‘Voh humare jaisey hain. (He is like us).’ Not from the clan of rajas and the royals who once dotted the college, that is. Jadeja, born in a one-room government flat to a nurse and a security guard, has risen in stature to being called ‘Bapu’, endearment for kings and mass leaders these days.

The few around the guard bristle when it is put to them that Axar Patel is also called Bapu by some of his IPL team-mates.’Jadeja is Bapu, not Axar’.

But their Bapu, who hails from the Jamnagar, is in a spot of bother now. On and off the field. He usually shuts critics with grand performances when talks swirls against him, and his faithful seem pretty confident. Jadeja’s father recently gave a bruising interview, dragging mud all over. Jadeja responded against the interview in support of his wife, who incidentally is a rising politician from the ruling party BJP. ‘His father might have said stuff, but he is doing well – wife is in BJP, he is playing for India, he is loved here … what else is needed?’ says a young man at the college gate. The conversation drifts to suggestions on where the best Kathiawadi cuisine in the city is.