VIDEO | Maiden centurion Ravindra Jadeja fails to spot Virat Kohli's declaration as India play extra ball
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Ravindra Jadeja, after reaching a milestone is always all pumped up, and you would expect him to push the bar higher when he reaches his first Test century. However, in the moment of elation, Jadeja didn't even look at the dressing room when Virat Kohli was declaring and India continued playing.
In the last couple of years, Jadeja’s bowling has come of ages and he has also stepped out of Ravichandran Ashwin’s giant shadow to carve a distinct niche for himself. Jadeja is no longer merely the holding bowler, but a serious wicket-taker in his own right. With the bat, too, the Saurashtra boy has also started to deliver goods on a consistent basis from the last two years. Earlier, despite having the skill of a proper batsman – three first-class triple-hundreds are the testimony to it – he didn’t back his ability to score runs at the highest level. But, that was all in the past.
If the Oval innings was a prelude to what was coming, Jadeja kept the full force for the best occasion - to celebrate his maiden century in front of his home crowd. Rajkot’s Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium has seen Jadeja’s many moments of grit and glory on the domestic circuit and today, he made sure that it was another day to remember. His hundred was laced with five fours and as many sixes which helped India put up a total that might be safe enough to give them an innings victory.
However, Jadeja was so elated after the century that he couldn’t even notice that Virat Kohli was calling them back to signal the end of the innings. As it is the home ground for him, he decided to salute everyone with his trademark sword celebration and followed that up by raising the bat. After finishing his ritual, he went back to take his position in the non-striker’s end and Kohli was looking at him with a sheepish smile on his face. After Mohammed Shami played out one more ball off Kraigg Brathwaite, Kohli declared again and this time, the duo noticed.
