Cricketers of the week: 5th March - 11th March

#2 Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin (India)

Jadeja is tied with Ashwin as the No.1 ICC Test bowler and deservedly so

India’s spin twins are jointly ranked No.1 on the ICC Test bowling rankings thanks to their consistent efforts over the last 12 months. It was Jadeja who saved India with his impeccable bowling in Australia’s first innings during the second Test at Bengaluru.

After India were all out for just 189, Jadeja prevented Australia from getting away with a big lead with figures of 6/63. The visitors still managed a lead of 87 but that could’ve been much bigger if Jadeja had not picked the massive wickets of Matt Renshaw, Steve Smith and Peter Handscomb, before cleaning up the tail.

Australia still amassed 276 but India’s second innings batting efforts meant they had exactly 187 to defend.

In the second innings, it was Ashwin who ran through the Australian batting line-up. Ashwin returned figures of 6/41 wrecking the Australian middle order. India won handsomely by 75 runs which was a huge margin for a low-scoring game.

Ashwin also picked up a couple of wickets in the first innings. This was the off-spinner’s 25^th five-wicket haul and in the process, he became the fastest bowler to the landmark eclipsing the record set by Richard Hadlee by a huge margin.