Veteran India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin made a surprising comment by saying that his Test match spin-bowling partner Ravindra Jadeja is the cricketer he is most envious of. However, Ashwin and Jadeja recently became the second Indian pair to enter the 500-wicket club together after Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh as well. While Ashwin has 489 Test wickets in 94 games, Jadeja sits on 275 wickets in 67 games as well. In a conversation with Sportstar, Ashwin stated that Virat Kohli is the greatest cricketer but also added that he is most envious of Jadeja.
“One person that I am always envious of, I am not a jealous person, but I’m very envious of this one person, not anybody else,” Ashwin said. “The greatest cricketer at this point of time, the most sellable cricket of the most attractive cricketer today is Virat Kohli. However, the most envious I am of one cricketer is Ravindra Jadeja. Ravindra Jadeja’s journey and my journey are extremely contrasting. Ravindra Jadeja can put a ball on the same spot day in and day out be extremely athletic on field and keep it extremely simple with the bat and be a million dollars on most days. I cannot do that.”
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However, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are part of the Indian Test squad for the upcoming tour of South Africa that starts with the T20Is on December 10. He also opined on how he and Ravindra Jadeja would not have become what they are today without each other, as well. Moreover, Ashwin has an amazing 34 five-wicket hauls and eight 10-wicket match hauls in Tests and he is only 11 away from the 500-wicket mark as well.
“We don’t exist without one another. Without Jadeja there is no Ashwin, without Ashwin, there is no Jadeja but it doesn’t take away from the fact that he is extremely good at keeping it very simple and not overthinking it.”I cannot put the ball the same spot or bat like how I do if I don’t be curious and if I don’t overthink. He cannot be who he is if he is constantly overthinking it. So this is a classic case of people plying similar trades and finding success in their own ways. For some reason, I couldn’t express this to him for a long time. But I found a way to express this to him. I think there is a constant tussle, even between us, about who’s even better than the other,” Ravichandran Ashwin concluded.
