Birmingham: All of Ravindra Jadeja’s Team India colleagues, including his captain, already addressed him as ‘Sir’, but now the all-rounder has a couple of new titles he can add to his name — 2013 Champions Trophy golden ball winner and man of the match in the final.
The left-arm spinner bagged two wickets in the final victory over England, taking his tally for the tournament to 12 — one more than England’s James Anderson and New Zealand’s Mitchell McClenaghan. And that, coupled with his vital contribution of 33 from 25 balls with the bat, ensured he was named best player in the final.
“I did well throughout the tournament because I was very positive,” he said.
Jadeja’s final knock, which included two boundaries and two sixes, helped India post a challenging total of 129 from their 20 overs. After the match he said: “It was quite difficult to rotate the strike, so I and Virat [Kohli] just tried to build a good partnership. I also enjoyed bowling on this wicket. My skipper [Mahendra Singh Dhoni] always backs me when I bowl.”
Dhoni added: “Jadeja is someone who keeps it very simple, he just looks for the right area and the ball does the talking. The good part was he contributed with the bat, which I feel is very important because he’s someone who will have to bat at number seven.
“Now what we have seen is you can’t play with six batsmen and five bowlers, so the seven number slot is very crucial and he’s the one that can really do that job for us.”
Kohli, who top-scored with 43 against England, admitted that when England’s Ravi Bopara and Eoin Morgan were in full flow, he felt India were going to be beaten. “When they [Bopara and Morgan] were smoking it around the park we thought we were out of it, but Ishant Sharma turned it around with two wickets in two balls. This victory is sweet for us, beating England in their own country.”
