Dubai: Ravindra Jadeja kept count of the number of days he was out of India’s ODI squad and once in, he made it count with four wickets, and stated Friday that he doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone.
The left-arm spinner, who is also handy with the bat, returned, in his own words, after around 480 days, with very impressive figures of 4/29 and bagged the man of the match award in India’s seven-wicket win over Bangladesh in the Asia Cup.
“I will always remember this comeback because I returned to the team after a gap of around 480 days. The earlier gaps have not been this long,” Jadeja told reporters at the post-match press conference.
Making a statement of sorts, he said, “I don’t have to prove anything to anyone. What my ability is, I need to sharpen it. I don’t have to show anyone what I can do. I need to challenge myself.”
I will always remember this comeback because I returned to the team after a gap of around 480 days. The earlier gaps have not been this long
Ravindra Jadeja
With less than a year left for the 2019 World Cup, Jadeja might have sent a timely reminder to the selectors about his prowess, but he said he was not thinking that far ahead.
“The World Cup is still some time away, we’re going to play a lot of matches before that, and I can’t comment on that yet,” said the left-arm spinner.
On the other hand, hailing his team’s clinical performance against Bangladesh, India skipper Rohit Sharma said they would look to replicate the show in Sunday’s match against arch rivals Pakistan.
“It was a clinical performance (against Bangladesh) from the start. Now, we will recover and come back fresh against Pakistan and try to replicate this performance,” Rohit said at the presentation ceremony.
