Become like R Ashwin, former coach Nari Contractor tells Ravindra Jadeja

Ravindra jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Nari Contractor

Nari Contractor

Former India skipper Nari Contractor expects Ravindra Jadeja to play like R Ashwin and turn into a genuine all-rounder. Save yesterday's 90 against England during the third Test at Mohali, Contractor said he was disappointed with the Saurashtra cricketer's batting performance in the main.

"He is developing into an all-rounder. His bowling was always good, but his batting is disappointing. Over the years, I expected him to score many runs as he did yesterday. In this series though he has batted well," Contractor, who coached young Jadeja when he was 14 at the Cricket Club of India, told mid-day yesterday.

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Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin. Pic/AFP

"He must now concentrate and improve his batting to become a genuine all-rounder. There are bowling all-rounders and batting all-rounders, but for a genuine all-rounder, bowling and batting must go hand-in-hand in every match, something that Ashwin is doing right now," he added.

The 82-year-old opener pointed out that Jadeja is still developing as an all-rounder. "It's difficult to really justify him as an all-rounder. He has scored three triple centuries in first-class cricket. But in Test cricket his performance is not up to the mark to be ranked as a real all-rounder. Ashwin is an all-rounder, but now Jadeja is developing into one. He has age on his side," he said.

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Jadeja departed after playing a reckless shot off leggie Adil Rashid to miss out on his maiden Test ton. "That's not an issue. He got four boundaries in the previous over. That's part of the game. I can't criticise him," Contractor added.