Jadeja to Jaddu: the origin story of India’s star all-rounder

The telephone begins ringing as quickly as Mahendrasinh Chauhan enters his small, dilapidated workplace on the bottom flooring of Cricket Bungalow, Jamnagar’s historic cricket floor.

In his early sixties, Chauhan takes out a small, old style telephone from his pocket and engages in a dialog in Gujarati. Chauhan nods his head for a lot of the dialog. Just earlier than hanging up, he says, “ Maari paase nathi… pan maari diary mah chhe (I don’t have it now, but it’s written in my diary).”

In the following couple of minutes, Chauhan brings out a small, worn-out leather-based diary from a kind of ‘purane zamane ki’ cabinets and searches for a telephone quantity. He turns just a few pages earlier than pointing his finger at a specific title and saying with a smile, “ Aa te chhe (Here it is).”

The quantity belongs to Ravindra Jadeja, India’s star all-rounder and Chauhan’s favorite ward.

“I don’t have his number saved on my phone. I don’t even know how to handle WhatsApp, so if anyone asks for his number, I need to find it in this diary,” Chauhan says with a smile.

The diary has been with Chauhan for about 9 years, and of their affiliation that goes again almost three many years, Chauhan has by no means dialled Jadeja’s quantity. Rather, each time the all-rounder has been house in Jamnagar, he has made it some extent to return and meet his ‘Mahendra sir.’

“Last year, when he was here for a long time during his recovery phase, we would meet almost every day. He would come down to the ground and spend some time with the youngsters,” says Chauhan. “But I have never called him, nor have I taken any favours from him. I don’t want to bother him unnecessarily, and that’s one of the reasons why I don’t have his number saved on my phone.”

Ever since Jadeja broke into the Indian staff, Chauhan—as a matter of precept and never superstition—has not watched any of his matches on tv. “ Jab koi bolta hai ke Ravindra ne achha kiya, woh sunn ne mein hi mujhe achha lagta hai (When someone tells me that Jadeja has done well, it gives me immense joy),” he says.

Whenever Jadeja options for the Indian staff or dons the Chennai Super Kings colors within the Indian Premier League, just a few of Chauhan’s mates name and supply common updates about Revadi, as they fondly name Jadeja.

“Even if it’s in the middle of the night, they call me and inform me about his performance. That way, I stay updated even though I don’t watch him play on television,” Chauhan says.

India will play the much-hyped group-league fixture of the ODI World Cup towards Pakistan on the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, simply an in a single day practice journey from Jamnagar. But Chauhan has no plans to go to the bottom to observe his ward play his third ODI World Cup. “I will not change my routine,” he says. “The Indian team is going through a bit of a rough patch, but Ravindra has been fairly consistent. He is a seasoned campaigner now and is well aware of his job, so I am sure he will do well and guide the team to the top.”

As he talks about his ward, Chauhan retains utilizing the phrase bharosa (religion) once in a while. Having seen Jadeja overcome a number of challenges, the seasoned coach believes his psychological toughness and talent to deal with difficult conditions have helped his  dikra (son in Gujarati) come to this point.

BACK IN THE DAY

Jadeja’s mom, Lataben, labored as a nurse at Guru Gobind Singh Hospital, and the household lived in a one-room flat allotted to her. There had been struggles, however his father Anirudhsinh and Lata ensured that their kids—Naina, Padmini, and Ravindra—had been nicely taken care of. While the mother and father wished to enrol him within the Sainik School in Balachadi, an eight-year-old Jadeja wished to play cricket.

And that’s when Chauhan entered his life. An acquaintance of Jadeja’s father, Chauhan was a policeman who performed a little bit of cricket. He ran the Nawanagar Cricket Academy on the Cricket Bungalow, which again then was not fairly as fancy because the title suggests.

It was a naked subject with a small constructing serving as a pavilion, and Chauhan, who doesn’t have any teaching certificates, would practice a handful of children. For the locals, he was a soft-spoken gentleman, however for his wards, Mahendra Sir was a really strict disciplinarian.

“When his parents brought him here, he looked like a shy kid, and I was not convinced he could handle the pressure,” Chauhan says, sitting in his workplace on the bottom flooring of Cricket Bungalow. The partitions have footage of a younger Jadeja positioned diagonally reverse these of Ranjit Sinhji and Amar Singh, two of Jamnagar’s cricket icons.

Back then, Chauhan would make all college students signal a contract, making it clear that the academy wouldn’t cost a penny from the wards, however there have been additionally just a few tips.

“I told the parents that I would not tolerate any  nautanki (drama) and the kid has to listen to me,” Chauhan says with a smirk. “Even now, I write in the contract that players who drink or are addicted to gutkha and paan masala (chewing tobacco) will not be entertained. This clause was applicable even back then.” Chauhan additionally instructed the Jadejas that he would have the ‘licence’ to beat their son in case he did not dwell as much as expectations.

“I have not beaten anyone as much as Ravindra. Since I loved him, I could not tolerate any complaints against him, so if there were any complaints against Ravindra, I would rebuke him straightaway,” Chauhan says. “Even after he made it to the Indian team, I slapped him a few times, and he never complained. I feel this is all about the bonding you share. He knew  agar sir maar rahein hain toh maine zaroor kuchh galti kiya hai (he knew if I punished him, he was at fault).” 

The coach and scholar share a ‘ baap-bete ka rishta’ (father-son relationship). So a lot in order that at any time when Jadeja had time, he would rush to Trishali Bhajipaun, a small eatery run by Chauhan on the Vishwakarma Road, and assist him out.

Jadhav bhai, who has been working on the eatery for the final 22 years, remembers how a younger Revadi would assist them out. “During festivals, there would be quite a bit of rush, and Ravindra would help us serve orders and even offer to help our staff manage the crowd,” Jadhav bhai says. “He did it all for his Mahendra Sir.”

There is not any exaggeration on this backstory. In an interplay with Star Sports throughout the IPL this 12 months, Jadeja stated that since 1996, his journey has revolved round two Mahendras—Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Mahendrasinh Chauhan.

“When he joined in, I told his parents they should not entertain Ravindra’s excuses if he came back home and complained. They followed my advice,” Chauhan says. “When I was around, he would be very well behaved, and there were no complaints. But the moment I left the ground, he would climb trees, walk across the walls, and wander around the statue of Vinoo Mankad, which is located just outside the Cricket Bungalow.”

SLEEPWAKER NO MORE

Back then, younger Jadeja additionally had the behavior of sleepwalking. His mom first noticed the problem. Chauhan noticed this firsthand when he took Jadeja to Mumbai to play native tournaments.

“Both the senior and junior teams went to Mumbai. There were nearly 30 players. There was another chap called Jatin who had a similar problem with sleepwalking. So, I knew that I had to handle the two,” Chauhan says.

After the staff reached Mumbai, Jatin complained of homesickness and left. That very evening, Chauhan noticed Jadeja’s sleeping dysfunction. “I asked him where he was going. He did not reply. I asked again, but there was no reply. I slapped him hard. From that day on, he has never sleepwalked,” the coach says.

Chauhan additionally shares his facet of the incident when he slapped Jadeja in the midst of a match as a result of he was not pitching the ball in the fitting areas. “He scalped a five-for in that fixture,” the coach remembers.

TAKING FLIGHT

Jadeja quickly made it to Saurashtra age-group groups and have become a identified title on the native circuit. Things had been transferring in the fitting route for the household.

And Jadeja, who had a fascination for bikes, saved each little bit of prize cash earned in native tournaments to purchase a two-wheeler. But the enjoyment didn’t final lengthy as Lata succumbed to burns suffered in a kitchen accident. Jadeja was hardly 16 then. “He was devastated,” says Chauhan. “His elder sister took care of him, and once he came to terms with it, he resumed training, and I told him to chase his dreams and make his mother happy. He looked at me and said that he would try.”

The teen stored his phrase.

At the age of 17, he was picked for the 2006 U-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka together with Rohit Sharma and statemate Cheteshwar Pujara. While the match wasn’t a memorable one for Jadeja, he bounced again and was named vice-captain for the 2008 U-19 World Cup.

Another younger expertise, Virat Kohli, was the captain. The band of boys created historical past, clinching the title. Then got here the IPL, and Jadeja’s life modified without end. In the inaugural version, the younger gun was picked by the Rajasthan Royals and caught the eye of Shane Warne, who was the captain and mentor of the staff.

Over the following few weeks, Warne would go on to name Jadeja a ‘Rockstar’ and get the most effective out of him. The very subsequent 12 months, he donned Indian colors. Life was clean however then got here a nightmare.

Before the 2010 IPL, the Mumbai Indians confirmed curiosity in buying him. He reciprocated, thus breaking IPL guidelines. The then-in-charge, Lalit Modi, banned Jadeja for a 12 months. “I had a long conversation with him and managed to convince him to get back into the groove. That phase taught him a lot and made him ready for top-level cricket,” says Chauhan.

Jadeja’s profession graph took an upswing when the Chennai Super Kings purchased him in 2012, and the Champions Trophy adopted subsequent 12 months, the place he performed a game-changing position. While Dhoni helped the teen stroll in the fitting route, the previous India captain additionally gave Jadeja the much-needed confidence to again his expertise.

“Under Dhoni’s leadership, he could spread wings,” says Chauhan.

Over the final six to seven years, Jadeja has been a game-changer for India, and as one other ODI World Cup beckons, hundreds of thousands of followers hope the all-rounder, true to his potential, delivers. Sitting in his newly-built house within the coronary heart of Jamnagar, Chauhan, too, will likely be impatiently ready for updates from his mates about Revadi’s performances, with hope and a prayer!