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Ravindra Jadeja - Second fastest to get 300 wickets and 3000 runs in Test cricket

Jadeja should say goodbye to test cricket. I think he is done
What? Just won man of the match for all round performance

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Yeah I reckon please look beyond nostalgia. He was pretty mediocre away from home throughout the 1990s and barring 2-3 performances, he didn’t have much to boost for in overseas conditions over his career.

Of course when India will field 2 pacers in their XI, they have to rely on Kumble to be the lead strike bowler. Lack of support is understandable but a career avg of 29 tells us that he had his ups and downs. He is not your biggest match winner by any stretch. That would go to Ashwin.

From Kumble’s era, the biggest match winner was probably Sehwag because he was key to India’s series win in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Rahul Dravid was key to India’s win overseas

It is more important to watch cricket and assess players than try to slice and dice their numbers and come up with half baked analysis.

In the 90s - Indian cricket's biggest achievement was its home Test record which was built on Kumble being the bowler of difference across both sides nearly every series. Excel fans will discount this saying dustbowl wkts don't count but reality is that if you are outperforming your peers consistently it is a special achievement.

In the 00s - ICT's biggest series wins away

1) vs Aus in 01 at home - Kumble injured and out of series

2) vs Eng 02 , 1-1 draw away - Kumble was top wkt taker across both sides with 14 @36 in a bat dominated series. He had 7 wkts in the headingley win including dismissing both set batters Hussain and Stewart on final day

3) vs Aus away 1-1 draw - Kumble again far and away top bowler across both sides with 24 wkts at 29.5. In the Adelaide test he picked up last 3 wkts for zero runs in first inns 5-fer to keep Aus to 556 when 600+ and triple for Ricky were on cards and in second inns bowled Gichrist when he was threatening counterattack. In Sydney, he took 12/16 Aus wkts on flattest track in years

3) vs Pak in 2004 , 2-1 win. Again Kumble was leading wkt taker across teams in first inns batting dominated series. 15 wkts at 25 while shutting out Pak with second inns 6-fer and 4-fer at Multan and Rawalpindi respectively.

4) vs WI in 2006 , 1-0. Again Kumble leading wkt taker across teams with 23 wkts at 28. The deciding test was again a Kumble second inns shutdown where he took 6fer to bowl WI out defending 269
 
5) vs SA in 2006, 1-1 draw. Was the ideal support bowler. Second highest wkt taker in series behind only Sreesanth and Ntini (14 @24) and the tourniquet bowler for India.

6) vs Eng in 2007 , 1-0 win. Took 14 wkts at 34 and was 2nd highest wkt taker outperforming Anderson and Sidebottom on batting friendly, seam movement focused wkts. Played steady role in removing Engs tail and also made vital contributions with bat in both tests India dominated.


Modern fans who don't watch cricket might think what was so special about a 29 avg bowler but Indian fans and Indian players of 90s and 00s know that Kumble was a giant who always delivered for the team
 
It is more important to watch cricket and assess players than try to slice and dice their numbers and come up with half baked analysis.

In the 90s - Indian cricket's biggest achievement was its home Test record which was built on Kumble being the bowler of difference across both sides nearly every series. Excel fans will discount this saying dustbowl wkts don't count but reality is that if you are outperforming your peers consistently it is a special achievement.

In the 00s - ICT's biggest series wins away

1) vs Aus in 01 at home - Kumble injured and out of series

2) vs Eng 02 , 1-1 draw away - Kumble was top wkt taker across both sides with 14 @36 in a bat dominated series. He had 7 wkts in the headingley win including dismissing both set batters Hussain and Stewart on final day

3) vs Aus away 1-1 draw - Kumble again far and away top bowler across both sides with 24 wkts at 29.5. In the Adelaide test he picked up last 3 wkts for zero runs in first inns 5-fer to keep Aus to 556 when 600+ and triple for Ricky were on cards and in second inns bowled Gichrist when he was threatening counterattack. In Sydney, he took 12/16 Aus wkts on flattest track in years

3) vs Pak in 2004 , 2-1 win. Again Kumble was leading wkt taker across teams in first inns batting dominated series. 15 wkts at 25 while shutting out Pak with second inns 6-fer and 4-fer at Multan and Rawalpindi respectively.

4) vs WI in 2006 , 1-0. Again Kumble leading wkt taker across teams with 23 wkts at 28. The deciding test was again a Kumble second inns shutdown where he took 6fer to bowl WI out defending 269
The only one with half baked analysis is you at this point.

All these performances were thanks to scoreboard pressure created by Indian batsmen. Most of these series are remembered for Rahul Dravid or Virender Sehwag setting it up for India. There is no achievement in picking wickets when opposition has already scored 550-600 runs. Yes, those were good batting pitches but Kumble was “Andhon me Kana Raja” in those series.

He was the lead bowler for India and because there was no competition for picking wickets among Indian bowlers, Kumble would often come ahead as a leading wicket taker in those series but those averages tells us that he wasn’t really winning India much. Your post only strengthens the claim that Kumble was actually far from being India’s biggest match winner of all time.
 
Kumble and Jadeja have both merited their place as greats for their achievements which are so different to each other that there is no comparison as to who’s better.

I won’t need to look through a stat book to say both were great because they had decades long careers of performance after performance.

Thread is about Jadeja and what I loved about him was that he always contributed and his brains that he brought to the game, a lot of times also as a trusted deputy. Even when he had a reputation of being only a white ball player he had one 300 in ranji (he scored more later) which I knew about so never understood when casual ind fans dismissed him.
 
The criteria i used was about pure AR , meaning batting Avg over 30 and bowling Avg under 30. Batting AR like Sobers , Kallis , Stokes have bowling avg over 30.
So according to this, we have a guy named Shaun pollock who fits your criteria... But I don't think he a bigger player than Kallis..

The best of them all is Imran Khan 22 avg with ball and 37+ with bat
 
Jadeja proving that his success in Indian conditions is down to a specific skill that he has mastered more than most of the spinners that have played the game. More all round spinners can come and may do well in India but won’t leave the kind of impact that Jadeja has built all these years.
 
So according to this, we have a guy named Shaun pollock who fits your criteria... But I don't think he a bigger player than Kallis..

The best of them all is Imran Khan 22 avg with ball and 37+ with bat
I agree Imran Khan remains the best Pure/Bowling AR among everyone.

Pollock slips the radar because as a bowler he was always under the shadow of Donald and Steyn. He has only 2 test centuries which hurts his batting credential. Almost all other Pure AR has 5 centuries or more.
The only the reason i rate Sobers above Kallis for the best Batting AR spot , Kallis has low Wickets per match in comparison. However in Kallis defensive Stokes is much Wickets per match is much lower.

Jadeja is in serious contention for 2nd spot with Kieth Miller. Also yardstick for spinners requires little more leeway when you realize than even Warne has bowling average over little over 25. Jadeja's current average is slightly lower than Warne.
 
Jadeja is an ATG all rounder. Stats are slightly inflated but despite that overall performance is comparable to Botham, Miller and Kapil.
 
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