Watch how Ravindra Jadeja's spin is proving the perfect foil to the canny Ashwin
Written off by many, the all-rounder has struck back with an excellent performance over the touring South Africans in the Test series.
Great fast bowlers are supposed to hunt in pairs. Do spin bowlers cast their web the same way? Back in the 1970s and 1980s, any two out of India's four magical spinners – Bishen Singh Bedi, Bhagwat Chandrashekhar, EAS Prasanna and S Venkatraghavan – would bowl in tandem for long hours, tormenting visiting batsmen with turn, flight and accuracy. After a long time, India is seeing a similar double-act from its spinners.
So, while Ravichandran Ashwin has spun his magic over the hapless South Africans, seemingly taking wickets at will, Ravindra Jadeja has quietly ensured that the South Africa have had no breathing space at the other end.
While Ashwin naturally tops the wickets list in the series with 27 sticks, Jadeja is not far behind with 21. And as the above video of his five-wicket haul in the fourth Test at Delhi demonstrates, he has at times even overshadowed Ashwin.
This was Jadeja’s second five-wicket haul in the series, the first coming in South Africa’s pursuit of 218 in the first Test innings at Mohali, where his inspired 5/21 skittled the Proteas out for just 109.
Even in the other matches, Jadeja has been the perfect companion to Ashwin's guile. In Nagpur, for instance, he had South Africa’s best batsman AB de Villiers out for a duck, which probably played a big part in their subsequent collapse to 79 all out.
It marks a triumphant return for a player who had been dropped by the selectors before this series.