Admist the brouhaha of the Prithvi Shaw show during India's first Test against the West Indies, a batting promotion in Team India slipped under the radar.
Ravindra Jadeja walked in at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot ahead of Ravichandran Ashwin to take guard as the No. 7 batsman. The southpaw struck his maiden international century at his beloved home ground, an unbeaten 100 off 132 balls.
But it isn't so much about the value of that innings as it is about the signal Jadeja sent out to the team management with the bat in his hand, one that transforms into a sword after reaching a batting landmark.
In the last Test that Jadeja and Ashwin played together for India, the latter batted one spot higher in the batting line-up, with the former coming in at No. 9 in the lone Test against Afghanistan in June this year.
Unlike the Test, though, this case wasn't a one-off.
For the last couple of seasons, the Indian team management has shown more trust in Ashwin the batsman than Jaddu the batsman in the longest format.
This, despite Jadeja having scored three triple centuries in first-class cricket and having a higher average than Ashwin at the Test level (33.21 vs 29.43).
Sample this: Ashwin has played as many as 15 out of his total 90 innings at No. 6, with another 15 of them as a No. 7. Jadeja, on the other hand, has only thrice been given the honour of being a No. 6 batsman, playing a majority of his 56 innings at the No. 8 spot.
But something changed for normalcy to be nudged.
That change came in the first innings of the inconsequential fifth and final Test against England last month.
Batting for the first time in a lost cause of a lost series, Jadeja played one of the few noteworthy innings by an Indian batsman in the five-Test rubber, getting the team out of the doldrums at 160/6 and taking it to a respectable 292 with a gutsy unbeaten 86 at No. 8.
The Saurashtra all-rounder batted for 204 minutes at The Oval, negotiating 156 balls to take India closer to England's first-innings total until he ran out of partners.
The knock was a cherry on the cake of his first outing in the series, with the 29-year-old picking up seven wickets in the Test to go as well.
More than the wickets, it was the runs that reminded everyone of the worth of Jadeja as an all-rounder in the Test side, none more than the team management, which promptly promoted him in the batting order in the next game against the Windies.
The reward? A century.
"We wanted him to cross the three-figure mark because we believe in his batting ability," India captain Virat Kohli said after India's win over the Windies. "We believe he can change many games for us and have match-winning contributions with the bat and ball," he added.
However, that belief hasn't translated into backing lately. Jadeja has played only three Tests in 2018 so far, the least he has played in any year since making his Test debut in 2012. Kuldeep Yadav was preferred over him as India's second spinner in the second Test against England at the Lord's.
After a patient wait throughout the year, Jadeja made the most of that one chance at The Oval, much like he made of his promotion in Rajkot.
"When you're not in the playing XI consistently, and suddenly when you get a chance, there is pressure on you to utilise that chance and make the most of it," Jadeja said after his century. "I had the same thought process in England, that I've got one match to play and I have to perform my best."
Given how India's middle and lower order offered precious little in the England series, Jadeja might well have put his hand up for a place in the XI Down Under.
N ZONE
- 3 No. of Test matches Ravindra Jadeja has played in 2018 so far, the least number of Tests he has played in a year since playing his debut Test in 2012
- 219 No. of runs Jadeja has scored in the four Test innings he has played this year so far including a century (vs WI) and half-century (vs England)
