The day this Jadeja will be called Jaddu.

Shukla, my big, fat sabzi wallah was a diehard Ajay Jadeja fanatic. He was also big on Azhar but Jaddu always came first. He often quizzed me when Jaddu would return? “Jaddu khelega na?” I never gave him false hope, but he never gave up. And when he didn’t quiz me about Jaddu, he asked after Azhar.

Obviously Shukla doesn’t watch NDTV, otherwise I would’ve had a thing or two coming on Jaddu the cricket expert. But I’m curious what he thinks of Ravindra Jadeja – I have a feeling he likes all things Jadeja.

Must confess, I like Ravindra Jadeja. Not from today, but from IPL1. He seems so damn young, energised, earnest, you gotta have him out in the middle.

Today, he was in the middle, good they didn’t drop him after the first game no-show with the bat. Anyway, with the ball, he was way better than Bhajji.

So too in the second game today. And even though Jadeja came into bowl in the 30th, he had Hussey by the third ball. Hussey had Bhajji for three fours. That was obviously one of the two bad overs Bhajji had according to MSD.

Such is the protective shield around Bhajji that no matter what I or you say or think, he will play all seven games. And when his bowling numbers come off, they will fly a plane, and we will read his figures in that great big gig in the sky.

So forget about Bhajji and Mishra for once. Let’s stay with Jadeja, the sharp lines, the canny lengths, the bounce about him. Let us for once not say he had 354 runs behind him, Bhajji had them too, what came of it. Honestly, I find it punishing beyond words to watch Bhajji bowl. Short, wide, short, wide. There’s just so much a man can take. And that too from another man. I don’t have to, you don’t have to either.

Let’s hop on to Jadeja vs Yusuf Pathan. I have an inventory here of Yusuf’s miraculous ducks, no scores, zeroes, (lotta first, second ball ones too). Don’t duck, have a look here.

He played 30 odd ODIs, got a lotta chances, lotta overs, contrary to what some people will want us to believe.

Let’s give Jadeja half those chances, half that backing, half that belief. I’ll be damn surprised, if by then you don’t start calling him Jaddu.

As for you Shukla, we'll talk about this Jadeja tomorrow. It's time to live in the now.

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