Friday Fights | The Big ODI Fight – Ravi Shastri vs Ravindra Jadeja

But this isn’t about India, hell this isn’t about their friendship or respect, this is about pure statistics, this is about blood. Can the World-Cup winner in Ravi Shastri get the better of India’s Champions Trophy winner Ravindra Jadeja?

Let the fight begin!

You can’t keep a tiger hungry for long, can you? That’s what has happened really in this ring, Ravindra Jadeja has not just intimidated Shastri but he has roared mightily to take the first-round home. A batting average of 32.58 in comparison to the 1983-World Cup winner’s 29.04 is enough to seal the deal

If a tiger has roared, a lion sure can’t keep it’s calm or such has been Shastri’s idiosyncrasies since he lost the first round to his junior, that too in his own foray. A little shimmy, a tall stance and a sharp turn, Shastri strikes back in the second round, with a career bowling average of 36.04, in comparison to Jadeja’s 37.36. 

Guess who’s won a World Cup here? Certainly not you, evidently not me and who joins us? Ravindra Jadeja. Ah, feels so bad that a World Cup winner has a different ring to himself and his boxing expedition. So the person who has indeed been part of a World-Cup winning squad understands the feeling and wins the fight, with an average of 32.41 against 39.18. 

The golden arm is where it stands at the moment - for Ravindra Jadeja, the lucky arm punches a round finally in his favour. After going down two consecutive rounds, the pressure was getting to him, with a certain co-commentator also suggesting that he’s a bits-and-pieces of a boxer. That didn’t go down well but did we go down this round was Shastri himself, with 33.8 to Shastri’s 37.7 

While Ravindra Jadeja has spent a lot of his time being the second-best spinner in India behind Chahal, his batting has always been overshadowed by the batsmen above him. But luckily for Shastri, he has got a major chunk of batting opportunities, which has increased his batting average to 38.65, which is 11 runs ahead of Jadeja. GAME ON!

Great effort from the two to keep this fight lively, it wasn’t expected to be a thriller - never was. But the way these two lads have been battling it out in the ring, suggests and paints a different picture altogether. While Shastri has a go in one, Jadeja ekes out in the other - with 1.14 wickets per innings in comparison to the left-armer’s 0.94. 

Okay, that’s our bad, he hasn’t got his Knighthood yet but let’s give this to him, he’s got a great batting strike-rate, on display in the ring. The way he goes about his things, it looks like Randy ‘Viper’ Orton has a contest in hand. But one thing is certain, Shastri is under the pump. Two rounds lost, the pressure is suddenly back. 87.07 in comparison to 61.07, if you may ask, in Jadeja’s favour. 

Jadeja, Jaddu, Sir Jadeja, call him whatever you please, his performance isn’t one-bit bits and pieces. He might have started this contest on a slower note but as his career will suggest, once he takes off, he really takes ooooffff. That’s what has happened here, his innings against New Zealand could have easily tilted the game in Jadeja’s favour, with 22.3 runs per innings in comparison to 16.8. 

Like Brock Lesnar destroyed our childhood, breaking Undertaker’s indomitable streak, here is Ravi Shastri doing the same, breaking a three-round streak from Ravi Jadeja. Incredible to witness, the lanky all-rounder just whipped past a sucker punch dropping Jadeja by the jaw. 15 30+ scores in comparison to Jadeja’s 12, makes him a better chaser. He is really chasing this contest now. 

So damn incredibly close - both of them have had a clear go at each other with full vigour. Forget the noise, forget the crowd, which swayed one way or the other, the contest was a classic one, showing us how incredibly close boxing encounters are. Both of them have had incredible moments and it was only fair to separate them using a neutral ground. By a whisker, Shastri gets the better of Jadeja, with 32.76 in comparison to 32.86. 

This is just mind-blowing, two of the best left-arm all-rounders that India have produced in limited-overs. Both of them have had an incredible go at each other but in all fairness, it has been a good, neat and close fight. Arguably both of them went for a win but as it stands out, all via statistics - Ravi Shastri has to bow down to Ravindra Jadeja, who has outshone him in the ring. Well deserved and well fought, Jadeja. Every time he is put under pressure, the all-rounder jumps up and wields the sword, or in the worst case, pulls off the sword-celebration that suffices. In retrospect, it was only fitting that Jadeja put out the tracer bullet punches to get exactly what the doctor ordered : a timely win.