Ravindra Jadeja, according to Aakash Chopra, should have been named Player of the Match in India’s 2023 World Cup league-stage victory over South Africa.
On Sunday, November 5, Virat Kohli hit an unbeaten 101 off 121 deliveries as the Men in Blue set the Proteas a 327-run goal in Kolkata. Jadeja hit an unbeaten 15-ball 29 before taking 5/33 in nine overs as the two-time winners cleaned out Temba Bavuma and company for 83 to secure a 243-run victory.
In a video posted on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra believed that Jadeja should have been named Player of the Match instead of Kohli. He reasoned as follows:
“Ravindra Jadeja – take a bow Jadeja. He picked up three wickets in Chennai and five wickets here. Jaddu’s specialty is that if you give him a pitch to his liking, he has the potential to run through a side. He has the bowling ability to demolish the opposition.”
“If I had the option to choose the Player of the Match, my Player of the Match would have been Ravindra Jadeja for the simple reason that if you see this tournament, you get an idea of the number of centuries that have been scored and how many five-wicket hauls have been taken. Five-wicket hauls are extremely rare.”
Aakash Chopra
Jadeja became only the second Indian spinner in World Cup history to take five wickets. Yuvraj Singh was the first to reach the milestone, with 5/31 against Ireland in the 2011 edition of the event in Bengaluru.
Aakash Chopra acknowledges Jadeja and Suryakumar’s impact with their cameos
Aakash Chopra explained that Ravindra Jadeja had an important role with the bat too. The same can be said for Suryakumar Yadav before him. He gave more detail:
“Suryakumar Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja’s short knocks – that did make a difference in the end. If we look at the last 10 overs, Virat Kohli scored 26 runs in that and India scored close to 90. So the rest of the runs were scored by Jaddu and Surya, I think 51.”
Aakash Chopra
The former cricketer-turned-commentator emphasized that the southpaw’s performance helped India attain a challenging total. He elaborated:
“The balls were almost equal, I think Kohli scored 26 runs off 26 balls but fours and sixes were hit from the other end. The finish Jadeja gave took the total to 326, which of course was too much.”
Aakash Chopra
Suryakumar scored 22 runs off 14 balls as part of a 36-run fifth-wicket stand with Virat Kohli. Jadeja scored 29 runs in an unbroken 41-run sixth-wicket stand with the centurion.