Former India opener Aakash Chopra believes that Ravindra Jadeja is the best all-rounder in the longest format. He argued that no one contributes with both bat and ball so well than the 33-year old.
On Saturday, Jadeja scored his career-best 175 which took India to 574/8 in the first innings. It was the highest score by any Indian batsman batting at no.7 or lower. Also on Sunday, he joined an exclusive list to pick a fifer and score a hundred in the same test match.
Ravindra Jadeja became the 6th player to score 150+ score and a fifer in the same Test
Speaking on his Youtube channel, Aakash Chopra said that Jadeja is clearly ahead in the all-rounder’s race, even ahead of England’s Ben Stokes who is wildly regarded as best in the business in the red-ball format. But Chopra believes that Stokes is more of a batting all-rounder and doesn’t offer as much with the ball as Jadeja does.
“We declare this today that if we talk about Test cricket, Ravindra Jadeja is the best all-rounder on the planet at this point in time. I rate him above Ben Stokes as well. If we talk about the current scenario, as a batter and bowler, as a complete package, Jadeja is the best all-rounder,” Aakash Chopra said.
“Only one player comes near him – I am not counting Cameron Green in that, he is good but still very young – I am talking about Ben Stokes. His bowling does not work that much in Test cricket, he is a batting all-rounder,” he added.
Jadeja has been often criticized for his lack of performance away from home. Chopra defended him by saying that the record of Stokes in Asian conditions is not much different either and Jadeja’s numbers improved away as well.
“We say Jaddu scores runs at home. Ben Stokes has also scored a majority of his runs in his areas. He is not going to score 150-175 when he comes to India, contributions will be there but it cannot be as significant as they are at home,” Chopra said.
In his 58-Test career, he scored 2370 runs with an average of 36.46 2 hundreds and 17 fifties and already picked 10 fifers in the longest format.
“We say the same thing about Jaddu. He has scored 175, 100 and 90 at home and when he goes away, it remains 50-70 runs. And he is a bowling all-rounder, Ben Stokes is a batting all-rounder. So in my opinion, Ravindra Jadeja is the best all-rounder in the world at the moment,” Chopra said.
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