Wisden names Ravindra Jadeja as India's 'Most Valuable Player' Test cricketer in the 21st century

Indian cricketer Ravindra Jadeja has been named as India’s Most Valuable Player in Test cricket in the 21st century by cricketing almanac Wisden. The announcement by Wisden came after it analysed his performance using CricViz, a detailed analysis tool in cricket. “After all, he’s not even always an automatic pick in their Test team. However, when he does play he is picked as a frontline bowler and has batted as high as No 6 —contributing to a very high match involvement,” reported Wisden quoting CricViz’s Freddie Wilde. [caption id=“attachment_8546171” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Ravindra Jadeja. Sportzpics[/caption] Jadeja, who has an MVP rating of 97.3 was also rated as the second most valuable Test player worldwide. Sri Lanka legend Muttiah Muralitharan emerged at the top on this list. Making a comparison between the Indian all-rounder, England’s James Anderson and Stuart Broad, Wilde said the two English bowlers have been excellent at home, but Jadeja has performed in “conditions that are less dominated by spin than they are by pace in England.” Heaping praise on Jadeja, Wilde said the all-rounder’s “superb” bowling numbers at home are partly a product of his ability to make an impact early in a match, adding that he “has a superb record against top-order batsmen in India, whose wickets are worth more according to our match impact measure.” Jadeja has picked up 213 wickets in 49 Tests and 187 in 165 ODIs. He emerged as the second-fastest Indian to bag 200 wickets —in 44 Tests. Indian spinner R Ashwin leads the chart for this, achieving this milestone in 37 games.