“This was Jaddu’s year” – Aakash Chopra lauds Ravindra Jadeja for his outstanding IPL 2023 campaign

Ravindra Jadeja authored a memorable victory for the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2023 final by hitting the crucial boundary off the last delivery to help his team cross the finish line. The southpaw played a brilliant cameo of 15* off 6 deliveries as CSK won their fifth IPL championship and tied Mumbai Indians for the most trophies. Aakash Chopra, a former India cricketer, stated that the season was a breakthrough for the left-arm spinner, whose bowling abilities had been absent for the previous few years. Jadeja was CSK’s second-highest wicket-taker in this iteration, with 20 scalps from 16 innings at an average of 21.55 and an economy rate of 7.50.

“Jaddu’s sorcery. Not a breakthrough season as a batsman, but as a bowler. In the previous four or five years of the IPL, Jaddu would not have bowled with such efficiency. This was Jaddu’s year,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel. “Otherwise, you would have seen Jaddu performing very well, but in the IPL, we used to speak about his mediocre performances.

Aakash Chopra praised captain MS Dhoni for supporting him and even promoting him up the batting order when he was a batter.

MS had a plan to elicit the finest performance from him. Aakash Chopra

“I had the impression that the captain wanted to bring out the best in him, to make him the greatest player he can be. He followed through on his commitment – knowing when and how much to bowl and batting him above himself, he added.

In 12 innings, Jadeja scored 190 runs with a batting average of 23.75 and a strikeout rate of 142.85. Throughout the season, the southpaw contributed crucial late-game surges for his team with his cameo appearances. Three times throughout the season, the 34-year-old was named Player of the Match against Mumbai Indians, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Delhi Capitals, respectively.

In addition to his batting prowess, Jadeja captured 1/38 during the final and the crucial wicket of Shubman Gill (39 off 20) courtesy of Dhoni’s outstanding glovework.