Ravichandran Ashwin has urged his long-time spin partner Ravindra Jadeja to let go of his inhibitions, just like Virat Kohli, and reinvent his career in this time of scrutiny. Ashwin said on Monday that
he has always asked Jadeja to try new things and not be ‘stubborn’, but it’s difficult to convince him because of how cemented his opinions are about bowling the same way due to the success he has had over the years.
Jadeja is among the best in the world at incessantly landing the ball in the same area and making it either turn big or go straight. He’s also among the quicker spinners of the world, which gives his opponents even less time to judge the trajectory and the variation. However, this strength often works against him on flatter tracks where he needs slower speeds and more loop on the ball to get the turn and make things happen.
“Jadeja has particular strengths he believes in. He won’t do anything beyond his strengths. If you expect him to bowl slow and bowl this way, that way, it is not going to happen. Because Jadeja will play within his strengths and within his limitations,” Ashwin said in a video on his YouTube channel.
“But as a friend, I keep telling Jadeja, ‘What will happen if you try something different? If you try bowling like Bishan Bedi, Maninder Singh or Mitchell Santner, what will happen? You might not perform, you might fail, you might be dropped. But if you are being stubborn and fail, then also you might be dropped. If you try something new and fail, they are going to drop you, but if you try something new and if you perform well?’ So instead of thinking that if you overthink, something negative will happen, you overthink positively. Because Jadeja doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone beyond this. He is a lion, he is a king,” Ashwin added.
Ashwin revealed that Jadeja has always experimented more in the nets, even bowling the carrom ball, which he rarely, if ever, used in a pressure situation at the international level. The former spinner believes that ‘playing without any worry’ has helped Kohli make a strong case for the 2027 World Cup when the pressure was the highest on him.
Jadeja is at the same point. He failed to pick a single wicket in the ODI series against New Zealand and had nothing better to show with the bat either, leading to presumptions that his white-ball career might be over.
“I have been watching him bowl over the last four to five years. He would try the carrom ball in the nets, but he won’t bowl that in a match situation. He is extremely skilful. But expanding your bandwidth, yes, it is difficult because you have relied on your strengths for so long. I think if you let it go and play with joy, it will come. See what Virat Kohli is doing now. He is playing without any worry, he is playing like he is the king of his world. That is why he is performing like this,” Ashwin concluded.
