Ravindra Jadeja is what one could call the perfect all-rounder. The Thalapathy, as people call him, can genuinely pull off anything that is humanly possible on a cricket field. He can bowl, he can bat, he can field, he can catch, produce magic and win matches on his very own. And it's because of his ability on the field that he has won 11 Player of the Match awards for India in his Test career.
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This puts him in an extremely coveted circle of players, with the only player having won more Player of the Match awards for India in Tests being Sachin Tendulkar, with 14. Bear in mind that Jadeja, who is 36 years of age, is still not done playing Test cricket and might very well dethrone the God of the game himself.
That being said, he is currently tied in 2nd spot with the Wall, Rahul Dravid. But there is one factor that makes Jadeja sit in a category of his own. The top 8 players with the highest number of POTM awards for India in Tests all have played a minimum of 100 Test matches, except one player, Sir Ravindra Jadeja.
In just 84 Tests, he has won 11 POTM, with the most recent one coming against West Indies when he played a scintillating knock of 104* and then picked up 4 wickets in the 2nd innings. His transgression from a bowling all-rounder who could chip in with a couple of knocks here and there, to now being a rock in the Indian batting lineup has been immense.
Ravindra Jadeja holds the Indian record for the most instances of scoring a half-century and taking five or more wickets in the same Test match.
By the time the wily left-handed all-rounder finishes his career, he might end up as one of the, if not the best, Test players India has ever had.
