Ravindra Jadeja Biography | Age | Career | Stats | Lesser Known Facts

Ravindra Jadeja Biography: The Saurashtra-born all-rounder Jadeja came into the spotlight with his all-round performance in the 2008–09 Ranji Trophy which he finished with 42 wickets and 739 runs.

Jadeja accomplished his father’s desire of making him to serve the country, not in his father’s way but in his own way. Jadeja’s father wanted him to serve the country in the Army but Jadeja picks cricket as the way of serving his mother country.

Ravindra Jadeja made his first-class debut in the 2006–07 Duleep Trophy. Where Jadeja made his IPL debut in 2008 and plays a crucial role in Royals’ victory in the season. Late Shane Warne, the captain of Rajasthan Royals in 2008, remarked to Jadeja as a “superstar in the making” and nicknamed him “Rockstar”.

Check out the Ravindra Jadeja Biography which is full of highs and lows with lots of controversial moments and check out the key factor that turned the bowling allrounder an inseparable part of the Indian cricket team.

Ravindra Jadeja Biography

Ravindra Jadeja Personal Life

• Ravindra Jadeja was born on 6 December 1988 in a Gujarati Rajput family in Navagam Ghed city of Jamnagar district in Gujarat.
• His father Anirudhsinh Jadeja was a watchman for a private security agency.
• His father wanted him to become an Army officer but his interest was in Cricket, he was scared of his father in his childhood.
• His mother Lata died in an accident in 2005 and the trauma of his mother’s death almost made him quit cricket.
• His sister Naina is a nurse.
• Ravindra Jadeja married Reeva Solanki on 17 April 2016. They had a daughter named Nidhyana. She was born in June 2017.

Ravindra Jadeja Cricket Career

First Class Cricket Career

• Ravindra Jadeja made his first-class debut in the 2006–07 Duleep Trophy.
• He played for West Zone in the Duleep Trophy and for Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy.
• In 2012, Jadeja became the eighth player in history, and the first Indian player, to score three first-class triple centuries in his career.
  • • He joins the elite list of players which includes Don Bradman, Brian Lara, Bill Ponsford, Wally Hammond, WG Grace, Graeme Hick and Mike Hussey.
    • His first came in early November 2011 against Orissa, in which he scored 314 off 375 balls.
    • His second came in November 2012 against Gujarat, in which he scored 303 not out.
    • His third came against Railways in December 2012, in which he scored 331 runs in 501 balls.
    • Jadeja reached this milestone at the young age of only 23.
• India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja became the fifth-fastest player to complete the double of 2000 runs and get 200 wickets in Tests during his 56-run knock vs England in Nottingham.

Domestic Career

• In the 2008–09 Ranji Trophy, Jadeja made an impressive performance by scoring 739 runs along with 42 wickets under his name.
• In the 2012-13 Ranji Trophy, he made an impressive performance where he scored two 300+ scores in 4 matches (4/125 and then 303* against Gujarat at Surat; 331 and 3/109 against Railways at Rajkot in the Ranji Trophy 2012–13).
• In Ranji Trophy 2015–16, Jadeja returned strongly where he picked up 38 wickets from 4 games and 215 runs, including 3 50+ scores.

ODI 

• Jadeja caught the attention of the national selectors with his strong all-round showing in the 2008–09 Ranji and was picked for the ODI series in Sri Lanka.
• His international debut came in the final match of the series on 8 February 2009 where he scored 60*, although India lost the match.
• After the incumbent all-rounder Yusuf Pathan suffered a loss of form, Jadeja took his place at No. 7 in the ODI team in late 2009.
• In the third ODI against Sri Lanka in Cuttack on 21 December 2009, Jadeja was awarded the man of the match award following a haul of four wickets. His best bowling is 4–32.
• He made a comeback into the Indian ODI side in the third ODI against England at The Oval in London.
  • • Arriving at the crease with India 58–5 after 19 overs, he scored 78, adding 112 with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and 59 off only 5.1 overs with Ravichandran Ashwin to help his side reach 234–7 in 50 overs.
    • He also took 2–42 from his 9 overs and was named “player of the match”, but England won the rain-affected game.
    • His performance in the fourth ODI at Lord’s was mixed, he gave away four crucial overthrows with a poor throw from the boundary but then took a catch on the boundary off the last ball.
• During the second ODI in the India-England series at Kochi, Jadeja hit 61 off just 37 balls, which took India to a total of 285.
  • • In the second innings, he bowled a spell of 2 for 12 in 7 overs, helping India beat England by 127 runs and level the series 1–1.
    • This performance earned Jadeja the Man of the Match award.
• He was ranked as the No.1 bowler in ODI Cricket by the ICC in August 2013.
  • • Jadeja is the first India bowler to top the rankings since Anil Kumble, who topped the table in 1996.
    • He is the fourth India bowler after Kapil Dev, Maninder Singh and Kumble to be ranked No. 1
• Jadeja was selected for the 2015 Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand despite not being fully fit due to a shoulder injury.
  • • He took 9 wickets in 8 games. His returns with the bat were modest, scoring just 57 runs from 5 innings.
    • India went on to lose against Australia in the semi-final.
• In 2015, after his poor performance in the next ODI series in Bangladesh after the 2015 World Cup campaign, he was dropped from the Indian team.
• Jadeja was included in the Indian limited-overs side touring Australia to play 5 ODIs and 3 T20Is.
  • • In ODIs, Jadeja bowled economically in a series where more than 3000 runs were scored in 5 matches.
    • He took 3 wickets at an economy rate of 5.35.
    • He was the second-highest wicket-taker in T20Is, picking up 5 wickets in 3 games.
    • In the second game of the series, Jadeja took a blinder off his own bowling to get the important wicket of Shane Watson and he also ran Aaron Finch out, who was batting on 74 at that moment.
• In March 2019, during the second ODI against Australia, Jadeja became the third cricketer for India to score 2,000 runs and take 150 wickets in ODIs.
• In April 2019, he was named in India’s squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.
  • • After benching for the 8 matches, Jadeja made his way into the playing 11 against Sri Lanka where he bowled 10 overs and picked 1 wicket for 40 runs at an economy of 4.00.
    • Jadeja didn’t get a chance to exhibit his batting skills as India won the match by 7 runs with back-to-back centuries from two opening batsmen -Rohit Sharma(103) and KL Rahul(111).
    • In the 1st semifinal of the tournament, Jadeja was named in the playing 11 against New Zealand.
    • In the semifinal, NZ won the toss and opt to bat first, and scored 239 runs for 8 wickets loss. Jaddu bowled 10 overs and picked a wicket for 34 runs at an economy rate of 3.40.
    • In the second innings, India loses its top-order batsmen for single-digit score. MS Dhoni and Jadeja made a threatening partnership which was broken by Guptill in the form of MS Dhoni’s run-out dismissal.
    • Jadeja ended the innings with a score of 77 runs from 59 deliveries where India lost the match by 18 runs. Notably, Jadeja is the highest individual run-scorer of India in the semi-final against NZ.
• Ravindra Jadeja was included in India’s 2023 ODI World Cup squad.
  • • Jadeja scored 120 runs(5 innings) and bagged 16 wickets in 11 innings. Jadeja was the third highest wicket-taker for India in this World Cup.
    • India didn’t lose any games in the group stage and semi-finals but failed to beat Australia in the final and lost the game by 6 wickets.

T20I

• In the 2009 World Twenty20, Jadeja was criticised for not scoring fast enough in India’s loss to England.
• In the second T20I of the Australian tour in February 2012, Jadeja had figures of 1/16 in 3 overs and effected two run-outs in the Australian innings.
  • • India went on to win the game and Jadeja was awarded Man of the Match, mainly for his fielding effort.
• Jadeja was included in the India squad for the Australia series to play five ODIs and three T20Is.
  • • In the five-match ODI series, Jadeja bowled economically in a series where more than 3,000 runs were scored in five matches. India lost the series by 4-1.
    • India bounced back and won the three-match T20I series by winning all three games. Jadeja took five wickets in three games at an economy of 5.35 and also remained the second-highest wicket-taker of the T20I series.
    • His splendid bowl and caught dismissal of Shane Watson in the second T20I played a crucial role in team India’s victory.
    • Apart from an impressive bowling spell, Jadeja also ran Aaron Finch out for 74 and abruptly changed the game flow.
• In September 2021, Jadeja was named in India’s squad for the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
  • • In the 2021 T20 World Cup, Jadeja scored just 39 runs and bagged 7 wickets while India failed to qualify for the knockout stage.
• Jadeja was named in the India squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 but was unable to play due to a severe knee injury. In this edition, India lost the semi-final against England and failed to qualify for the final.
• After missing the 2022 T20 World Cup, Ravindra Jadeja was included in the India squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup.
  • • In the 2024 edition, Jadeja scored 35 runs and bagged just a wicket.
    • Though Jadeja failed to make an impressive performance, India won their second title by beating South Africa in the final.
    • Following this glorious victory, Ravindra Jadeja announced his T20I retirement.

Test

• After his impressive performance at the start of the Ranji Trophy season 2012–13, he was called up to join the 15-member India Test team to play the fourth Test against England at Nagpur.
• In his Test debut against England at Nagpur, he bowled 70 overs and picked 3/117.
• In the historic 4–0 home Test series win against Australia in February–March 2013, Jadeja took 24 wickets, dismissing the Australian captain Michael Clarke five out of six times in the series which cemented his place in the team as an all-rounder, despite not contributing much with the bat.
• His seven-wicket haul, including a five-for in the second innings of the final Test match, earned him the Man of the Match award.
• Jadeja scored his maiden test fifty on 20 July 2014, playing against England and saving the match for India who were struggling at 235/7.
  • • He made 68 runs from just 57 balls.
    • His partnership of 99 with Bhuvneshwar Kumar helped India set England a target of 319.

• His strong performances in Ranji Trophy 2015–16 were rewarded with selection for the Indian test side facing South Africa at home.
  • • Jadeja helped his team achieve victory, by taking 23 wickets in 4 games.
    • He scored 109 runs in the series, which included crucial knocks lower down the order.
• During the Australia tour of India in  2017, Jadeja featured in all four tests against the visiting Australian side.
  • • He bagged 25 wickets and made two half-centuries down the order, which earned him the player of the match as well as the player of the series award in the latest concluded series on 28 March 2017.
• He along with Ravichandran Ashwin became the first pair of spinners to be jointly ranked number 1 bowler in ICC Test Rankings history.
• On 5 August 2017, Jadeja became the fastest left-arm bowler to reach 150 wickets in terms of the number of Tests played (32).
• On 5 October 2018, Jadeja scored his first century in Tests.

• In October 2019, in the first Test against South Africa, Jadeja took his 200th wicket in Test cricket.
• On 5 March 2022, in a Test match against Sri Lanka, Jadeja broke the 35-year-old record of Kapil Dev by scoring 175*.
  • • He made the record of the highest score by a No. 7 or below.
    • He later took 5/41 and then 4/46 in the innings and India beat Sri Lanka by an innings and 222 runs.
    • Post the victory of the first test match skipper Rohit Sharma praised Jadeja for his impressive performance and mentioned him as one of the top all-rounders.

• During the 2022 Indian tour of England, Jadeja scored his first overseas century in the fifth Test.
• After recovering from the knee injury which pushed him out of the 2022 T20 World Cup, Jadeja made a return to the test squad for the home edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
  • • In his comeback match, Jadeja bagged his eleventh five-wicket haul and became the fastest Indian to take 250 wickets and to score 2500+ runs in Test cricket.
• During the England tour of India 2024, Ravindra Jadeja was ruled out for the second test owing to a hamstring injury that he sustained in the 1st Test.
  • • KL Rahul and Jadeja were named in the India squad for the final three matches, subject to medical clearances.
    • He smashed 112 runs in the first innings of the third test played between February 15 and 18 but did not get a chance to bat in the second innings. He concluded the match with bagging seven wickets and was named as the Player of the Match.
    • In the remaining two tests, Jadeja assisted with the ball in India’s victory.
    • India won the five-match test series by 4-1.

Champions Trophy

• He played an important role for India in lifting the ICC Champions Trophy 2013.
  • • He was the highest wicket-taker of the tournament with 12 wickets, which won him the Golden Ball.
    • He made 33* with bat and took 2 wickets in the final against England. He was also named as part of the ‘Team of the Tournament’ by the ICC and ESPNCricinfo.

U19 World Cup

• At the age of 16, he made his first Under-19 appearance for India in 2005.
  • • He was picked in the Indian squad for the 2006 U/19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka.
    • India finished runners-up and Jadeja impressed one and all in the final against Pakistan by picking up 3 wickets.
• He was made the vice-captain of the Indian team that won the 2008 U-19 Cricket World Cup led by Virat Kohli.
  • •  He played a crucial role with the ball in the tournament, taking 10 wickets in 6 games at an average of 13.

IPL

• Ravindra Jadeja was selected by the Rajasthan Royals for the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008.
  • • He played an important role in their victory (Royals defeated Chennai Super Kings in the final).
    • Jadeja scored 135 runs from 14 matches at a strike rate of 131.06, his best score being 36* against Kings XI Punjab.
• Jadeja did even better in 2009, scoring 295 runs at a strike rate of 110.90, and conceding fewer than 6.5 runs per over.
• Shane Warne, the captain of Rajasthan Royals, referred to Jadeja as a “superstar in the making”. Warne also nicknamed him “Rockstar”.
• Jadeja sat out the 2010 IPL because of a ban arising from contractual irregularities.
• In 2011, he was bought by the Kochi Tuskers Kerala for $950,000.
• Kochi Tuskers were terminated from the IPL in September 2011.
• In the 2012 IPL player auction, Jadeja was bought by Chennai Super Kings for $2 million (approx. Rs. 9.8 crores) after a tie-breaker with Deccan Chargers who bid the same amount.
  • • Jadeja was the most expensive player of the year’s auction.
    • He won the Man of the Match award in the second match of the season against Deccan Chargers for his all-round performance (48 runs off 29 balls, 5/16 in 4 overs).
• For his performances in 2014, he was named in the Cricinfo CLT20 XI.
• In a Mother’s Day game during IPL 2015, Jadeja put in a fine spin bowling performance in Chennai.
  • • He took four wickets for 11 runs with a brilliant spell of bowling against Rajasthan Royals.
• In the 19th match of the 2021 Indian Premier League, Jadeja hit the joint-most 37 runs in the last over bowled by Harshal Patel.
  • • He later took 3/13 in his four overs and was named player of the match.
• CSK retained Jadeja ahead of the IPL 2022 Mega Auction for a whopping amount of INR 16 crores. Notably, MS Dhoni has been retained by CSK in the second position for INR 12 crores.
  • • On March 24, 2022, CSK announced Jadeja as their new captain for the IPL 2022 season replacing MS Dhoni.
    • Following his instability in the captaincy, MS Dhoni was renamed as the captain of CSK replacing Jadeja.
    • He was later ruled out of the season due to a rib injury.
    • Jadeja and CSK later unfollowed each other on Instagram creating a suspicious rift between them. But CSK CEO denied the rumours and confirmed that he was ruled out on medical advice.
• In his next season IPL 2024, Jadeja created a special position in CSK’s fans’ hearts by winning the 2023 IPL final. When CSK was in need of 10 from two balls for the victory, Jadeja smashed a six and four and clinched the trophy for CSK.
• In IPL 2024, CSK failed to qualify for the playoff round under new captain Ruturaj Gaikwad. Though CSK failed to qualify for the playoffs, CSK fans were treated with MS Dhoni’s aggressive knocks in the death overs.
  • • In IPL 2024, Jadeja scored 267 runs and bagged eight wickets.

Ravindra Jadeja Controversies

Raina vs Ravindra Jadeja Fight

• During the 2013 Celkon Cup tri-series match between India and West Indies, Suresh Raina and Jadeja gets into a heated argument on the field.
  • • In the same match, Virat Kohli led India for the first time ever due to MS Dhoni’s injury
    • The incident happened after Raina failed to take Sunil Narine’s catch on two occasions.
    • Jadeja, after dismissing Narine with the penultimate delivery of the 34th over, rushed towards Raina and said a few harsh things to which the left-handed batsman reacted angrily before skipper Virat Kohli intervened.

Ravindra Jadeja vs James Anderson Verbal Spat

• In the July 2014 India tour of England, Jadeja had a verbal spat with James Anderson.
  • • The incident happened when the teams were returning for lunch on Day 2 of the first Test at Nottingham.
    • India were the first to protest against Anderson’s aggressive behavior. England, initially surprised at India’s reaction, decided to lodge a formal protest against Jadeja.
    • The ICC quickly appointed a judicial commissioner to solve the impasse. The copious use of the four-letter word and how players threaten to “smash teeth” and “squeeze juice” is simply startling.
    • Even as the Indians claimed Jadeja was ‘innocent,’ ICC match referee David Boon fined the all-rounder 50 percent of his match fee. Dhoni called the decision “hurtful” and the BCCI appealed against the verdict.

Sanjay Manjrekar vs Jadeja – ‘bits and pieces’

During the ICC World Cup 2019, while doing commentary Sanjay Manjrekar used ‘bits and pieces’ for Jadeja.

Jadeja didn’t like the word he was mentioned by and felt insulted. Many felt that Manjrekar used this word because Jadeja wasn’t doing well in WC 2019.

After the incident in the very next game, Jadeja got a chance to play in team 11 and he scored 77 runs on 59 balls. After this match Jadeja twitted.

Following India’s victory against New Zealand in the second Twenty-20 International (T20I), Manjrekar took to his official Twitter handle and wrote, “Player of the match should have been a bowler.”

Much to the surprise of the cricket fans, Jadeja himself commented under his tweet, writing, “What is the name of that bowler?? Pls pls mention.”

What is the name of that bowler?? Pls pls mention 🤪

— Ravindrasinh jadeja (@imjadeja) January 27, 2020

While everyone thought that Manjrekar was talking about Jadeja since the latter was the most economical Indian bowler and also returned with two wickets, Manjrekar cleared the air and said the Man of the Match award could have also been awarded to Jasprit Bumrah.

He replied to Jadeja by saying, “Ha ha…Either you or Bumrah. Bumrah, because he was extremely economical while bowling overs no 3, 10, 18 and 20.”

Ha ha…Either you or Bumrah. Bumrah, because he was extremely economical while bowling overs no 3, 10, 18 and 20. https://t.co/r2Fa4Tdnki

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) January 27, 2020

Jadeja and Manjrekar are not known to share a very cordial relationship with each other. It further worsened when Manjrekar called Jadeja a “bits and pieces” player and said he was a not very big fan of the all-rounder.

Though Jadeja did not reply to him personally, he had written on his Twitter timeline, “Still i have played twice the number of matches you have played and i m still playing. Learn to respect ppl who have achieved.i have heard enough of your verbal diarrhoea. @sanjaymanjrekar.”

Still i have played twice the number of matches you have played and i m still playing. Learn to respect ppl who have achieved.i have heard enough of your verbal diarrhoea.@sanjaymanjrekar

— Ravindrasinh jadeja (@imjadeja) July 3, 2019

After his tweet, Manjrekar told that he used that word because he deserved it but yes I appreciate that he scored very well against New Zealand.

The former cricketer-turned-commentator stated that the term ‘bits and pieces’ is not uncommon and also said that he never felt the need of meeting Jadeja to clarify things. He also recalled the infamous incident with Kieron Pollard in 2017 IPL when he met the West Indies star to clarify his comment.

“No, I don’t think it has happened. With Pollard, it happened because he misunderstood me. there was no misunderstanding here, I have said it exactly what Jadeja heard so there is no question of trying to….,” Manjrekar told.

“The thing is I gave an interview to a random news channel and that line got picked up. Player was upset. Bits and pieces was something lot of people used. When I say it was a terrible year for me, I gave that comment and very next day Jadeja, in that semi-final, played an absolute blinder of an innings. The kind of innings we have never seen from him,” Manjrekar added.

Sarah Taylor and Jadeja Late Night Chat

England’s women wicket-keeper Sarah Taylor and Indian star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja once had a late-night conversation on the micro-blogging website, Twitter.

This all happened during the ICC World Cup T20 2014 when their respective teams lost in the finals of the tournament.

KKR Trolls Dhoni – Jadeja Answers

In their official Twitter account, KKR shared a photo of Australia’s aggressive field setting for James Anderson during the final moments of the drawn 4th Ashes Test in Sydney, recalling Gambhir’s field placement for MS Dhoni during their match against the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant from the past.

The troll incident dates back to the IPL 2016 season when the then Rising Pune Supergiant’s player MS Dhoni struggles to make an impressive performance with the bat.

CSK all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja responded to the post, saying “it wasn’t a masterstroke but just a show-off” from the former champions.

Read full conversation: KKR Trolls MS Dhoni, CSK All-Rounder Ravindra Jadeja Replies

Awards

• ICC World ODI XI: 2013, 2016
• Madhavrao Scindia Award for most wickets in Ranji Trophy: 2008–09
• Ranked 2nd in ICC Top 10 Test all-rounders (2018)
• Named in Test XI of the year by Cricbuzz in 2013
• Ranked No.1 bowler in ODI Cricket by the ICC in August 2013
• Ravindra Jadeja received the Arjuna Award in 2019

Lesser Known Facts

• Ravindra Jadeja is from a Rajput family due to which he is very fond of horse riding and sword fighting, due to which he keeps a lot of swords stock and horses
• Ravindra Jadeja is the first player who has scored 300 runs 3 times in India’s domestic cricket.
• Ravindra Jadeja is the only bowler after Anil Kumble to be ranked number one in the ODI rankings.
• Ravindra Jadeja is also the owner of a restaurant in Gujarat named “Jaddu Food Field”.
• Jadeja has played in IPL from 4 teams Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings, Gujarat Lions, and Kochi Tuskers Kerala.
• Ravindra Jadeja is the most expensive player in IPL 2012 auction, he was bought by Chennai for 9.72 crores.
• Ravindra Jadeja was also praised by Sunil Gavaskar in 201. He said that Ravindra Jadeja and Cheteshwar Pujara are role models of youth.
• In June 2020, former India opener Gautam Gambhir picked Ravindra Jadeja as the best fielder in world cricket at the moment and explains why he picked Jadeja as the best all-rounder.
• Ravindra Jadeja names MS Dhoni as the person behind his successful transformation to be a Best All-rounder.
• During the COVID19 lockdown the then Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner posted a hilarious video on his Instagram handle where he is seen emulating India and Chennai Super Kings all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja’s archetype “sword celebration“.
  • • For which former Indian skipper Virat Kohli Reacts amusingly on David Warner attempting Ravindra Jadeja’s Sword Celebration’.

Ravindra Jadeja Batting Stats

Ravindra Jadeja Bowling stats