IND vs SL: Gautam Gambhir reflects on Ravindra Jadeja’s masterful century

Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir believes that Ravindra Jadeja will get more confidence when he plays match-winning knock overseas. On March 5, Jadeja played an innings of 175 not out against Sri Lanka. The left-hander came out to bat when the team was struggling at 228/5. His innings helped India amass a total of 574/8. 

The Rohit Sharma-led side went to beat the visitors by innings and 22 runs. Notably, the Dimuth Karunaratne led side could only muster 174 all-out, one run less than Jadeja. Meanwhile, Gambhir feels that the Saurashtra all-rounder milked the likes of bowlers such as Dhanajaya De Silva, Charitha Asalanka, and Lasith Embuldenya. 

“I feel the innings Ravindra Jadeja played in Australia or the knocks he has played outside India, he will get more confidence from that. Stats can be very misleading,” Gambhir said on Star Sports.

“There was a time after the century where he was just milking – Dhananjaya de Silva, (Charith) Asalanka and (Lasith) Embuldeniya were bowling but if you talk about Australia or England, the 40 or 50-run contributions there are probably much more important than this innings.”

However, the former India opener added that Jadeja’s innings were a by-product of the tough runs the latter has scored in overseas tours in the past. 

“These 175 runs are the by-product of how Ravindra Jadeja has batted in overseas conditions. You only see the end result but the lead up to these 175 runs, there has been a lot of effort put in that, he scored runs in very difficult circumstances and conditions and that is why he got a chance at No. 6 or No. 7,” he added.