How Ravindra Jadeja is having the Anil Kumble effect

Anil Kumble got his ‘Perfect 10’ against Pakistan at the Kotla. On Sunday, at the same venue, when Ravindra Jadeja was running through the Australian batting line-up to become the fastest Indian to take seven wickets in an innings (in 12.1 overs), one couldn’t but go back to that legendary Kumble spell. While Kumble was a leggie and Jadeja a left-arm spinner, there are similarities in the way they approach their games. Jadeja, just like Kumble, bowls faster through the air, giving the batsmen very less time to read him off the pitch. “The accuracy that Jadeja has also has shades of Kumble in him. Just like my legendary colleague, Jadeja has the ability to hit the right areas through the day, not giving anything away to batsmen,” former India left-arm spinner Venkatapathy Raju told TOI.

Read AlsoHow India deflated Australia in 19.1 overs on a Sunday in Delhi

In about 90 minutes of absolute bizarre batting against high-quality spin of Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin, Australia were shot out for 113, turning an intriguing Test match into a lopsided affair as India chased down the 114-run target with six wickets to spare to go 2-0 up in the Border-Gavaskar

Elaborating on the point, the left-armer who had 93 Test wickets, said: “If you keep hitting the right areas at that pace, the batsmen often start to lose it in their minds. The Australian batsmen had that on Sunday and they just didn’t have an answer,” Raju said. “Jadeja earlier used to mostly go wide of the wicket and his action was a little too roundarm. Now he comes closer to the wicket and is always attacking the stumps. And the pace at which he bowls, it’s a mistake to bank only on the sweep which Aussies tried,” Raju added. There’s another similarity between Kumble and