Image Credit- BCCI
Since December 2020,
Ravindra Jadeja has bowled 52 front-foot no-balls in Test matches. Four had
bounced more than once out of the eighteen no-balls he had delivered before
then, and seven were flagged by the third umpire because they had resulted in
dismissals or were subject to a DRS review. None of the seven that are left
were, as far as we have records go, front-foot no-balls. Whatever the case, the
main point is that since late 2020, Jadeja has been bowling an exceptionally
high quantity of no-balls.
This rise in
no-balls is somewhat unrelated to Jadeja. The ICC gave the third umpire control
over calling all foot-fault no-balls in the middle of 2020. The third umpire in
cricket used to exclusively look for no-balls in cases when the ball had
resulted in a dismissal or a non-dismissal that had been challenged by the
fielding side, prior to that pivotal moment.
Jadeja is the ideal
example of why a third umpire is necessary and why it is so challenging to call
a no-ball on the pitch. In addition to pushing the boundary in either case, he
doesn’t land perfectly. His front foot clears the line high above it in the
air, and he drags it back while it’s still airborne, with the toe landing
first. The umpire must mentally determine if the imaginary straight line they
draw lands on the popping crease or slightly behind it. They must do this
swiftly from his heel to the ground.
Since the majority of Jadeja’s no-balls are only visible on replay, he hasn’t
begun to overstep in 2020. That’s all—in 2020, he began receiving calls for
overstepping.
One of the best
all-arounders and spinners of all time is Jadeja. Because of his exceptional
athletic ability, he looks to be inherently adept at everything on the cricket
pitch. He drives with the fluidity and apparent ease of a well-oiled machine.
Not that he doesn’t put in a lot of effort; rather, it seems like he follows
his own advice, which frequently proves to be too effective for other cricket
players.
But Jadeja needs to work even harder with these no-balls. And it doesn’t
require much work. The majority of these are relatively slight no-balls, and it
merely takes a minor adjustment to avoid them.
During the current
Test series, India’s captain Rohit Sharma, who is well-known for his witty and
sardonic remarks on the pitch, yelled, “This Jadeja doesn’t bowl no-balls
in the IPL, man.” Imagine it’s T20, Jaddu.”
With the possibility of a free hit present in Twenty20 cricket matches, Jadeja
has overstepped just twice since 2020. He has only accomplished this six times
in ODIs. Applying the same concept to tests should be simple. Jadeja has bowled
11 no-balls in this series alone, almost twice as many as any other bowler.
Fortunately, none of those have affected his 17 balls that he takes wickets,
but he shouldn’t need to lose a wicket to adjust.