IPL 2017 : Ravindra Jadeja Returns To The Struggling Lion’s Den; While Steve Smith Fit To Play!

Dec 22, 2018 at 4:35 PM

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IPL 2017 : Ravindra Jadeja Returns To The Struggling Lion’s Den; While Steve Smith Fit To Play!

The one man who Gujarat Lions were missing was their star bowler Ravindra Jadeja. After the Border-Gavaskar trophy, the Indian spinner was in need of rest and thus was not sure of playing the tenth edition of IPL but a silver lining in the cloud covering the plight of lion’s camp was seen when Jadeja joined the camp.

Gujarat Lions’ bowling coach Heath Streak confirmed that Ravindra Jadeja trained with the squad and is fit to play.

If you have followed the first week and even if you haven’t; just check the list of bowlers who are in the race for the purple cap, you can see how have the spinners taken absolute charge of this season and made the batsman take a backseat.

The tracks in summer favour slow bowlers, armed with skill and patience to test the stroke players.Gujarat Lions’ Ravindra Jadeja, supported by the experienced Shadab Jakati, have the necessary qualities to curb the ambitions of Rising Pune Supergiant batsmen when the two sides meet on Friday.

“Jadeja’s availability gives us more selection options. He is a quality bowler and more than a handy batsman, as seen in the series against Australia.”

GL bowling lacked the bite till now.

“We focussed on containment and building up pressure. Unlike other sides, we did not have pacers or spinners to be used in powerplays.”

Four overs each by Jadeja, Jakati, Tahir or Zampa can alter the course of this contest under lights playing the host to RPS at Khanderi’s SCA stadium.

Two losses from two appearances do not reflect well on Suresh Raina’s leadership, nor does the result do justice to reputations of players like Dwayne Smith, Brendon McCullum or Aaron Finch, known to win games on their day.

The camp was surely missing a quality bowler. South African Imran Tahir has already shown his intentions in the three appearances so far. Adam Zampa was his partner in a double-spin act in the two home ties. The Aussie, match-winner last season for the same side, is slowly getting into the groove. The wicket of century-maker Sanju Samson in the previous game showed his capacity to withstand punishment.Imran is on run for the purple cap.

GL will bank on Jadeja and the vastly-experienced Jakati to subdue RPS heavyweights Steve Smith, Ajinkya Rahane, M. S. Dhoni and Ben Stokes. But smith would be back on the game missing last day due to illness. Manoj Tiwary, who also missed the last game following his father’s death, has re-joined the squad.

The RPS skipper felt it was too early to debate on team form — two straight defeats after starting off with an easy win over Mumbai Indians.

“Disappointed with the last match. Our team played only three matches, so not worried,” Lions won both matches last season and did so by chasing targets of 164 in Rajkot and 196 in Pune in head to head with RPS.

With Jadeja back on the camp and along with smith’s return to RPS the competition is definitely expected to be another enticing one on Friday!

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