Tezzbuzz Desk- Indian cricket team's star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is known for his excellent bowling. In Test cricket, he has given wickets to India on many important occasions, but his one small mistake has become a big problem for him many times. Due to overstepping i.e. moving his feet beyond the crease, Jadeja has many times lost wickets which he had already achieved. Something similar was seen in the Galle Test against Sri Lanka, when he dismissed Test captain Dhananjay de Silva, but did not get a wicket due to the ball being a no ball.
This incident of Galle Test has once again brought Jadeja's old record related to no balls into discussion. This is not the first time that Jadeja dismissed a batsman, but due to overstepping the wicket was not added to his account. There have been many such occasions in his Test career, when no balls took away important wickets from him.
This was first seen with Jadeja during the Mohali Test in 2015. He had dismissed the legendary South African batsman AB de Villiers, but the ball on which he got the wicket turned out to be a no ball. Due to this, de Villiers got a lease of life and Jadeja did not get a wicket in his account. After this, Jadeja's ball proved to be a no ball against Sri Lanka's Dimuth Karunaratne in the Nagpur Test in 2017. In the same year, in the Delhi Test, Sri Lanka's two leading batsmen Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal also escaped getting out on Jadeja's ball. On both the occasions, Jadeja got the wicket, but due to overstepping, the ball was declared a no ball.
The same story was repeated with Jadeja in the Kingston Test against West Indies in 2019. He dismissed Shamara Brooks, but his foot was ahead of the crease and the ball was declared a no ball. Next year in 2020, in the Christchurch Test against New Zealand, Henry Nicholls also escaped getting out on Jadeja's ball. The most surprising phase came in 2023. In the home Test series against Australia, Jadeja lost three important wickets due to overstepping. Steve Smith was his target in the Nagpur Test. Had he got that wicket, Smith could have become the 250th victim of Jadeja's Test career. After this, Marnus Labuschagne in the Indore Test and Peter Handscomb in the Delhi Test also escaped getting out on Jadeja's ball for the same reason.
Statistics show that this problem is not limited to just a few selected matches. From 2021 till now, Jadeja is among the spinners who have bowled the most no balls in Test cricket. During this period he has bowled a total of 84 no balls. After him comes Pakistan's Noman Ali, who has bowled 40 no balls during this period. In this way, amidst the excellent bowling of Jadeja, this figure of no balls is definitely shocking. Especially in a long format like Test, where one wicket can change the course of the entire match, a small mistake of overstepping can prove costly for both the team and the bowler. In the Galle Test, the wicket of Dhananjay de Silva also went out of Jadeja's hands due to this reason and once again his no ball became a topic of discussion.