"There is no senior or junior in the side" - Saurashtra coach opens up on Ravindra Jadeja's pep talk

Saurashtra coach Niraj Odedra has opened up on the mood in the team camp after the return of Ravindra Jadeja ahead of their Ranji Trophy encounter with Tamil Nadu in Chennai on Tuesday.

The star all-rounder will lead Saurashtra as senior players Cheteshwar Pujara and Jaydev Unadkat have been rested for the game against Tamil Nadu. Jadeja joined the team in Chennai on Sunday and Odedra claimed that the morale in the camp is great.

Speaking to PTI, here's what Niraj Odedra had to say about Ravindra Jadeja taking on the captaincy role for the game on Tuesday:

"With JD (Unadkat) being rested for the game, we asked him (Jadeja) if he could captain the side and he happily agreed. He takes great pride in playing for Saurashtra and he wants everyone in the team to feel the same way. He also told the team that there is no senior or junior in the side and everyone is equally important. He is a big player and we all are excited to have him back."

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Saurashtra coach on Ravindra Jadeja's nets session

Odedra also said that Ravindra Jadeja had a pretty long nets session where he bowled as well as batted. The coach claimed that the stand-in skipper was keen to have a longer session and that showed how pumped up he was to get back to competitive cricket.

On this, he stated:

"He is very pumped up and it showed in the nets today. He wanted to have an even longer session but since he is coming from injury, it is important that he doesn't overdo it. Before spending an hour in the nets, he gave a pep talk to the boys.

"Since he has reunited with the team after a long time, he was very keen to interact with the boys and congratulate on our recent success in white-ball cricket (Vijay Hazare triumph)"

Ravindra Jadeja will be keen to prove his match fitness as he is crucial to India's chances of making it to the World Test Championship final. They will have to beat Australia by a margin of two wins.