Wisden on Tuesday named all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja as the India’s Most Valuable Test Player (MVP) of the 21st Century. Jadeja is also the second best in the world behind Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan. The declaration is based on CricViz’s statistical model to measure in-game impact of the player. The promising all-rounder was rated at 97.3 for his overall performance in Tests combined with his match-winning contributions.
Ravindra Jadeja in Tests:
Ever since his Test debut in 2012, Jadeja has improved tremendously in all three departments. He has been consistent with the ball, gutsy and mature with the bat and sumptuous in the field. He is arguably one of the quickest fielders to exist in world cricket currently. In 49 Tests, the all-rounder has picked 213 wickets at an average of 24.62, including eight four-wicket hauls, nine five-wicket hauls and a 10-wicket haul.
The left-hand batsman has scored 1869 runs at 35.26 with an impressive strike rate of 63.76. He has also remained at the top of World’s Test Bowlers as well as All-Rounders rankings for a brief amount of time due course. Jadeja now firmly sits comfortable as one of the first picks in the Indian Test side. He has also regained his place in the limited overs side and has been key to India’s lower middle order.
Under Virat Kohli, the 31-year old southpaw has improved miraculously with the bat. He has also been responsible for taking India out of trouble quite a few times in the recent past. In 2019 alone, Jadeja picked up 21 wickets and averaged a remarkable 62.50 with the bat.
About the CricViz Rating System:
“It might come as a surprise to see Ravindra Jadeja, India’s spin-bowling all-rounder, feature as India’s number one. After all, he’s not even always an automatic pick in their Test team. However, when he does play he is picked as a frontline bowler and has batted as high as No.6 – contributing to a very high match involvement,” Cricviz’s Freddie Wilde told Wisden.
Wilde further explained that simply more than volume, it’s what Jadeja does when he’s involved that really counts. “The 31-year-old’s bowling average of 24.62 is better than Shane Warne’s and his batting average of 35.26 is better than Shane Watson’s. His batting and bowling average differential of 10.62 runs is the second best of any player this century to have scored more than 1,000 runs and taken 150 wickets. He is an all-rounder of the very highest quality.”
He also revealed that the match impact model focuses on the ‘player’s actual performance versus expected performance of an average player in a similar situation’ metric. Wilde exclaimed that the model rewarded the players who have influenced matches the most.
“Our match impact model is a measure of how much better or worse a player has performed compared to the expected performance of an average player appearing in the same position in the same match.”
“It is important to stress that the findings of this model are not illustrative of who the ‘best’ player is; rather, they are a measure of which players have influenced the matches they have played in most significantly.”
Moreover, Jadeja is incredibly popular in the entire cricketing world. While royal living and social media interaction keeps the fans interested, his sword-celebration with the bat is often a joy to watch. Ravindra Jadeja is indeed an asset to the Indian Cricket Team.
