Ravindra Jadeja crowned as Cricket Thalapathy after bowling heroics vs KKR

On a true Chennai pitch though, Jadeja finally found his footing. Three quick wickets make up half the story in this comprehensive seven-wicket victory against Kolkata Knight Riders, but more exciting for CSK surely is the return of Jadeja the run-strangler. Eleven dot balls in an unbroken spell on the heels of CSK conceding their most expensive powerplay this season was just the sort of riposte they would have wanted.

Serving an icing on it were the breakthroughs. An easy way to describe Jadeja’s bowling irrespective of formats is his relentless accuracy. It sometimes though glosses over the changes of length that speak of a constantly calculative mind. Having watched Angkrish Raghuvanshi adapt to the two-paced nature of the pitch by trying to hit straighter, Jadeja didn’t waste time to test his range by pitching length and predictably straight.

That Raghuvanshi could have lined up any part of the ground is another story, but he went for the reverse sweep and completely missed the line. More substantiation of Jadeja’s impeccable length came in Raghuvanshi not choosing to review the decision, and he was proved right by replays.