Ravindra Jadeja (full name: Ravindrasinh Anirudhsinh Jadeja) is an Indian cricketer and is considered as one of the best all rounders of the game. He is a lefthanded middle order batsman and a slow left-arm orthodox bowler and represents Saurashtra in first class cricket. He was contracted by Gujarat Lions in 2016 for Rs 9.5 crores for the Indian Premiere League (IPL). He has also been associated with teams like Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings for the IPL. Jadeja made his One Day Internationals (ODI) debut in 2009 against Sri Lanka and his Test debut in 2012 against England.
Jadeja was born to Anirudhsinh Jadeja and Lata Jadeja on 6th December 1988 in Navagam Ghed, Gujarat. The family was very poor and his father worked as a watchman for a private security agency and his mother was a housewife. Jadeja also has a sister named Naina and she works as a nurse. Jadeja played cricket since childhood, but after his mother's death due to an accident in 2005, Jadeja was very disturbed and decided to quit cricket. However, he later decided to play cricket and make his mother proud. Jadeja then at the age of 16 was selected for the U-19 squad of India and in 2006 U-19 World Cup, he took three wickets in the final match against Pakistan. Later, in the 2009 U-19 World Cup Team, he became the vice captain of the team and played a huge role by taking 10 wickets at an average of 13 in 6 games and helped the team to win the World Cup. Back in 2006-07, Jadeja made his first class debut in the Duleep Trophy representing the West Zone. In the 2008-09 Ranji Trophy Series, Jadeja took 42 wickets and scored 739 runs and impressed the national selectors which led to him being selected in the Indian National team against Sri Lanka. He made his international ODI debut on 8th February 2009 against Sri Lanka in the final match of the series and scored 60 (not out) in the match. He made his T20 debut on 10th February 2009 against Sri Lanka but was unable to set a mark on his debut and scored only 5 runs. He was then selected for the 2009 T20 World Cup tournament but was later criticized for scoring slow against England. Later he made a comeback to ODI team and was selected for the series against Sri Lanka. In the third ODI, he took four wickets for 32 runs and was awarded the man of the match award for his performance. While playing for the International Cricket Team, Jadeja still continued his first class career and in 2012 became the first Indian player and eighth in the history to score three triple centuries in his career. His first triple century came against Orissa where he scored 314 runs, later he scored his second triple century against Gujarat when he scored an unbeaten 303 and his third century came against Railways where he scored 331 runs and he entered the record at the age of 23. After making this record, he was then included in the test team against England and he made his debut against England and took 3 wickets in the match. Jadeja was then a part of the 4 test match series against Australia in February 2013 and in the series he took 24 wickets and dismissed Michael Clarke five times and in the final test match. He was awarded the man of the match for the seven dismissals. In the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy Tournament, Jadeja became the highest wicket taker and dismissed 12 players in the tournament and earned the golden ball. After this performance, he was ranked as the number 1 bowler by ICC and became the fourth Indian to be ranked at the top. He was also included in the 2015 World Cup despite being unfit. He took 8 wickets in 9 matches and was later dropped from the ODI team. In 2016, Jadeja made a comeback and in the test series against New Zealand and in the 500th test match of India, Jadeja was declared as the Man of the Match for his performance in the first test match.
Jadeja married Rivaba Solanki on 17th April 2016. Jadeja has been popular in IPL and was first included in the Rajasthan Royals team. His performance in the season was appreciated by Shane Warne and he even gave him the title of Rockstar. Jadeja was later banned for breaking the contract and was contracted by Kochi Tuskers Kerala. In 2012, he was contracted by Chennai Super Kings for 9.8 Crores and became the most expensive player of the year. After the team was banned in IPL for two years, Jadeja was inducted in the Gujarat Lions. His performance has been appreciated by the audience and he has won many awards and recognition. Jadeja was awarded the Madhavrao Scindia Award for most wickets in Ranji Trophy in the year 2008-09. He was also included in the ICC World ODI XI in 2013. Sunil Gawaskar in one of his statements has even said that players like Ravindra Jadeja are the role models for the youngsters.
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