Salim Durani, who in 1962 claimed 10 wickets against England in Chennai, hails fellow Saurashtra left-arm spinner's identical feat against the same opponents in the same city on Tuesday after 54 years
Ravindra Jadeja celebrates after dismissing Jake Ball to signal India’s win over England in the fifth Test at Chennai on Tuesday. Pic/PTI
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The India vs England Test series kicked off at the historic cricketing state of Saurashtra. It ended in historic fashion as well. On Tuesday, India's left-arm spinning all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja's 10 wickets in the Chennai Test caused a 4-0 series win for the hosts. In a happy coincidence, another left-arm spinner from Saurashtra — Salim Durani — claimed the same number of wickets to help Nari Contractor's 1961-62 men beat Ted Dexter's Englishmen for the first time in a series. That win was achieved in Chennai as well albeit at the Corporation Stadium and not at Chepauk.
"Jamnagar always produces good cricketers," 82-year-old Durani said with a chuckle over the phone from Jamnagar, when asked to comment on Jadeja's surge.
"Jadeja is developing into a very good left-arm spinner," said Durani. "He bowls a very tight line and accurate length. He is flatter and faster through the air and always attacks the stumps. He gets most of his victims by constantly making them play and hardly bowls a loose ball. That's how he sent back Alastair Cook so frequently in this series."
Salim Durani
Durani gave the impression that he followed the series closely: "In one instance, Cook kept defending and then charged Jadeja only to be stumped by the 'keeper. On another occasion, he played five forward defensive shots and was caught in slips through an outside edge off the sixth ball." Jadeja claimed Cook's wicket six times in the five-Test series.
However, Jadeja is not a finished product as a left-arm spinner, reckoned Durani, who felt his real test would be when he bowls on tracks that are not so spin-friendly.
"Jadeja is not someone like Vinoo Mankad, who never depended on the wicket for turn. Mankad could spin the ball even on flat tracks. The tracks in this series against England were not out and out turners, but they certainly helped spinners to a huge extent. Jadeja should now develop the skill of taking wickets on flat pitches. With his accuracy, I'd like to believe that he may be successful even on unresponsive wickets," remarked Durani.
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