5 most miserly bowlers in Tests this year

#1 Ravindra Jadeja – 43 wickets at 24.55 and economy - 2.27

Jadeja has been virtually unplayable the last few series

Jadeja bowls an unyielding line. He uses what is called natural variation to his benefit. By bowling consistently on the same line, he waits for the pitch to do something unpredictable and it does, at times. Jadeja himself doesn’t know, often, which way the ball will turn. And, he doesn’t give away runs, because he keeps it in that nagging length around off-stump.

He bowls at about 90kph, which means that the ball is fast enough not to encourage the batsman to skip down the track. He doesn’t flight the ball much either. On a turning pitch, speed and accuracy put together make Jadeja virtually unplayable.

The 28-year-old managed his 43 wickets in just 18 innings with 2 five-wicket hauls, the highlight of his year being the 7-for he took on a rather placid wicket in Chennai to give India an unlikely win against England. Interestingly, Jadeja is No.1 even over 5 years, with the same economy rate – 2.27, the lowest for any bowler with over 50 wickets.

Jadeja has 111 wickets at 24.07, and that helps explain his phenomenal consistency. The left arm tweaker also has the lowest economy – a miserly 2.15, if we look at all bowlers with more than 30 wickets over the last 2 years, way ahead of second-placed Anderson, whose economy is 2.55.