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For him, the now 52-year-old was still the young dashing right-hander who took Delhi cricket by storm with runs by the tons. From local league games to fixtures for India, Deepa has scribbled Jadeja’s runs on his very colourful scoresheets (the scorer is known for using different colour sketch pens) for more than a decade and still remembers the early days of the young man who went on to play 196 ODIs and 15 Tests for India.
“Ye master player tha. Bahut kam aaye iske jaise, kya player tha. Bahut bada player tha. Iski batting dekhne kaha kaha se log aate the. Aaj bhi waisa hi hai (He was a master player, few have come like him. What a player he was. Massive player. People used to come from far to watch him bat and he hasn’t changed as a person at all),” Deepa recalls with a beaming smile and pride in his voice.
Jadeja didn’t even have to turn back to figure it was Deepa sitting and talking behind him. The peculiar voice, and the innumerable anecdotes, makes him a very difficult character to miss in DDCA corridors.
“Kal bhi mila tha Jaddu ko mai. Aawaz sunte hi pata chal jaata hai usko mai hu. Abhi bhi, bulane ki zarurat nahi padi. Mai bola aur wo aawaaz sunte hi mud gaya, aawaz hi aisi hai (I met Jadeja last night too. The moment he hears my voice, he comes to know it’s me. I don’t even need to call out for him, my voice does the trick),” adds the walking encyclopaedia on Delhi cricket.
Delhi wasn’t the only team that Jadeja represented in the domestic circuit and went on to play for Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan and Haryana too but he was back in the Kotla corridors for arguably one of the shortest stint as coach.
It was the September of 2015 and the usual infighting amongst different DDCA factions – that time three – continued. On the suggestion of the government appointed nominees then, Jadeja became the unanimous choice and the formalities were completed. The former India & Delhi cricketer took charge and from his first day in command, he injected the positivity he has been known for.
On his first day at the job eight years ago, Jadeja took laps of the then Feroz Shah Kotla ground with the Ranji Trophy probables. The list of boys also included Rishabh Pant who had made a lot of noise with his bumper season in U-19 circuit. There was laughter, there was chatter and there was Jadeja doing Jadeja things. Keeping the young boys in high spirits with infectious energy.
The same energy and chilled-out vibe was felt during Afghanistan’s hit under the sun on Tuesday when Jadeja assembled with the squad for a “homecoming” of sorts. Dressed in the team’s training gear, floppy hat and Ray Ban wayfarer, the former cricketer made his way down from the dressing room and on the way to the nets session, laughed off the “homecoming”.
“Happy to be back here at Kotla?” he gave a momentary pause and laughed it off.
Jadeja comes brimming not only with energy but also a lot of interesting anecdotes. Like the one where he recalled the shadow-practice routine of Javed Miandad which had left him in awe. The former Pakistan cricketer, unlike the routine drill of batters using the bat, used to shadow wearing gloves and then collected the ball neatly under his eyes, right where he intended to make the connection with the bat. Is he passing the same observations to the Afghans too?
“Times have changed now, routines have changed. Those were I would say different days and different periods of cricket. It’s 2023 now,” says Jadeja as he walked towards the Afghan boys in the training area.
A light stretch of the legs later, he kept shuffling nets and passed on his observation to every batter/bowler in action. No lengthy pep talks just snacky conversations and then over to the next. For him it’s more of an occasion than a cricket assignment.
“I am enjoying here yaar… for me it’s an occasion. I am more of a tour guide for them (laughs),” says Jadeja in a freewheeling chat with the media on sidelines of the nets.
Jadeja was a “last-minute appointment” and he feels the current coaching staff, featuring the likes of Jonathan Trott, have been with the team for a long time and have been doing an effective job.
“Mai to last moment aaya hu, enjoy kar raha hu (I came here at the last moment and I’m just enjoying). People like Trott have been here for more than a year. So it’s a good bunch.
“As far as I am concerned, jaise yaha mahaul bana raha hu, waha bhi mahaul banata hu (just how I’m creating a calm environment here, I do the same there),” adds the colourful character.
For now, he would hope the “mahaul” allows Afghanistan to play to their potential vs India and give a sweet “homecoming” to their mentor.
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