Is Ravindra Jadeja a greater test player than Ravi Ashwin and Virat Kohli?

[daryl1985]

For me he is better than both but think an argument can be made for all 3.  

 

Ashwin - More skilled bowler but Jadeja's batting is a lot better, Ashwin only really useful at home from what i remember and not amazing in the field.

Kohli - The drop-off was too big but think his captaincy was excellent, fast bowling culture thrived under him, way record was not that good in big series but there were a lot of missed opportunities in England and SA.  

Jadeja - Great bowler at home, can play a holding role away but struggled in some countries.  Good old fashioned batter, does not have the big shots but can grind and for me India's best fielder in the last 15-20 years (can't say i saw a lot of Kaif). Jadeja also a weird one because in many ways he is a wiley and streetwise cricketer but that goes out of the window when it comes to running between the wicket.

[Majestic]

21 hours ago, diga said:

Next generation of spinners should get a chance and Jadeja can play as a batsman 

 

PS: Kuldeep, Axar, Dubey, Sai Kishore all need some chance 

At the moment, India only need to focus on next generation of pacers. There is enough quality in spin options.

[diga]

47 minutes ago, Majestic said:

At the moment, India only need to focus on next generation of pacers. There is enough quality in spin options.

thats why we are struggling to win home series

[Ultimate_Game]

20 hours ago, Lord said:

Our selectors can't seperate formats. It has hurt both our team and legacy of players like Jaddu. There is nothing wrong in being good in one format 

 

Yup, that been our bane for a long time. Lack of awareness across formats, and also lack of common sense. For example having no lefties in ODIs. You need a couple of lefties top of the order to disrupt bowlers' line & length. Someone like Jaiswal at the top and Sai comin in at 3 would be ideal. They along with Gill as an opener and Iyer at 4 would be a solid top order in ODIs.

[Ultimate_Game]

20 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

 

One of the main reason for white wash also when both of them failed with bat. It underlines how important they were for home series. Kohli piggy backed on them and is chest thumping about his test w/l ratio

 

They were holding the team with both bat and ball.

 

This series has showed how much better our batting has become simply by dropping has beens like Kohli and Rohit. We may have lost but never imploded and no matter what we can get to a score of 350+. So far only one batting failure across 8 innings (the chase of 190). If the oldies were here, we would've imploded at least 3 to 4 times and trailing the series 3-1 or 4-0 by this time.

[Majestic]

14 hours ago, diga said:

thats why we are struggling to win home series

That one home series was down to carrying seniors who had become burden to the team. In that series, Jadeja did well and we now have young team so it is not likely to repeat again.

[New guy]

14 hours ago, diga said:

thats why we are struggling to win home series

We won't struggle to win at home with these youngsters.

[vvvslaxman]

22 minutes ago, Majestic said:

That one home series was down to carrying seniors who had become burden to the team. In that series, Jadeja did well and we now have young team so it is not likely to repeat again.

 

Two guys ended up with average of 15 lol Rohit and Kohil. What do you expect. 

[diga]

23 minutes ago, Majestic said:

That one home series was down to carrying seniors who had become burden to the team. In that series, Jadeja did well and we now have young team so it is not likely to repeat again.

 

2 minutes ago, New guy said:

We won't struggle to win at home with these youngsters.

Let's talk after the home series against Australia 

[New guy]

Just now, diga said:

 

Let's talk after the home series against Australia 

Sure.

[AuxiliA]

I consider Ashwin slightly better than Jadeja on account of his bowling being better. But Jadeja can surely overtake him if he keeps up with his batting performances. 

 

However both Jadeja and Ashwin are better than Kohli in tests. 

 

[neel roy]

It all started if you all remember in that famous rained out sydney test. He made a 81 in 100 odd balls and he and Rishabh pant flayed the aus bowling. I still curse rain gods for that match. It was a 3-1 win written all over

[Lord]

2 hours ago, neel roy said:

It all started if you all remember in that famous rained out sydney test. He made a 81 in 100 odd balls and he and Rishabh pant flayed the aus bowling. I still curse rain gods for that match. It was a 3-1 win written all over

Only got out trying to attack for people talking about milestone obsession

A win would also have helped Kuldeep. Has been ignored by all coaches since

Edited July 30, 2025 by Lord

[Majestic]

2 hours ago, neel roy said:

It all started if you all remember in that famous rained out sydney test. He made a 81 in 100 odd balls and he and Rishabh pant flayed the aus bowling. I still curse rain gods for that match. It was a 3-1 win written all over

Since 2018, his record is excellent and played both home and away equally.

[Gollum]

What works in Jaddu's favor is he is a rare proper athlete in Indian cricket.

 

Ashwin was a curd rice eating sloth who was probably physically 45 when he called it quits, you need to be exceptionally talented to make it work with that kind of body frame. Kohli has maintained fitness but insane hard work, discipline rather than natural athleticism and that takes its mental toll....unfortunately lost his hand-eye and drive at an early age.

 

Jaddu is like the SENA guys, if not cricket, he could have excelled in hockey, football, athletics, boxing etc. Kapil was a natural athlete, Azhar as well. This is what excites me about Jaiswal, seems to be  a natural athlete.....he will have hiccups along the way but greater chance to succeed in the long run. 

Edited July 31, 2025 by Gollum

[Mariyam]

@Gollum

 

Don’t mean this in a derogatory way, but you have a man crush on Ashwin. It is cute and very endearing.

 

You are in awe of Vishy. You respect Prag. You respect that spear throw champ Neeraj. You respect Humpy.

 

But you have a small sports crush on Ashwin.

[StraightDrive26]

Jadeja surely better as a batter. He has a FC average of 45 with 14 hundreds. Both Ashwin and Jadeja have been the pillars of Indian Test team over the last decade. Without both in the team we would have lost most of the series even at home. Remember the 40* Ashwin scored against Bangladesh after we were reeling at 70/7 to win the game with Shreyas? There have been multiple knocks like that from both the legends. I would rate both of them above Virat, purely as cricketers. Don't want to get into the charisma, captaincy etc as Ashwin and Jadeja haven't led the team. 

 

Jadeja as a overseas batter has been brilliant and his left-arm spin is consistent. He should be playing at least for another 2 years and hopefully by the time he retires India find a replacement. From what I understand we have quite a few spin bowling all-rounders right now in domestic.

[vvvslaxman]

2 hours ago, StraightDrive26 said:

Jadeja surely better as a batter. He has a FC average of 45 with 14 hundreds. Both Ashwin and Jadeja have been the pillars of Indian Test team over the last decade. Without both in the team we would have lost most of the series even at home. Remember the 40* Ashwin scored against Bangladesh after we were reeling at 70/7 to win the game with Shreyas? There have been multiple knocks like that from both the legends. I would rate both of them above Virat, purely as cricketers. Don't want to get into the charisma, captaincy etc as Ashwin and Jadeja haven't led the team. 

 

Jadeja as a overseas batter has been brilliant and his left-arm spin is consistent. He should be playing at least for another 2 years and hopefully by the time he retires India find a replacement. From what I understand we have quite a few spin bowling all-rounders right now in domestic.

 

I am not sure if it is a coincidence. India has been producing this spin all rounders since then.  Axar patel, Sundar. We had this Jayant yadav dude who made a 100.  Hope it inspires the batsman to bowl spin as well.

[StraightDrive26]

1 hour ago, vvvslaxman said:

 

I am not sure if it is a coincidence. India has been producing this spin all rounders since then.  Axar patel, Sundar. We had this Jayant yadav dude who made a 100.  Hope it inspires the batsman to bowl spin as well.

Historically spinners have always been better batters than fast men. Even out and out spinners could hold the bat better than a fast bowler. That's why finding a genuine pace bowling all-rounder is difficult. 

[cricspirit]

On 8/1/2025 at 1:20 AM, StraightDrive26 said:

Historically spinners have always been better batters than fast men. Even out and out spinners could hold the bat better than a fast bowler. That's why finding a genuine pace bowling all-rounder is difficult. 

 

 

Except the time when Bothm, Imran, Kapil and Hardlee were together.

 

Agarkar had batting potential but both his batting and bowling failed in tests to do anything substantial.

 

We had Irfan Pathan as a potential who remained unfulfilled. He could bat and bowl on his day.

 

Then Hardik came along. His body broke down so much that he doesnt play Test cricket.

 

Now we have Nitish Reddy who can develop into one. 

 

Its not an easy Job and need natural athletes who are also committed to test cricket along with skills