Ravindra Jadeja

"Indian cricket's most under-rated player, the reputed spin all-rounder is a proven match-winner across formats. Jadeja's jaw-dropping numbers give him entry into any Hall of Fame. His Test batting average is better than those of Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Andrew Flintoff and Shaun Pollock; and his bowling figures are better than those of Bishan Singh Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna, S Venkataraghavan and BS Chandrasekhar. As for fielding, there isn't anyone in Indian cricket who has shown the thirst to stop, catch and throw the ball for this long. Born in Jamnagar, a city that was once ruled by the great Ranji and still has the statue of another cricketing legend Vinoo Mankad in the town square, Jadeja is a traditional cricketer who keeps tweaking his game to suit the format he is playing. However, the start of the all-rounder's white-ball cricket journey wasn't great. At the 2009 World T20 in England, he scored a 35-ball 25 in a crucial game that knocked India out of the tournament. He would get endlessly trolled and summarily written off by his doubters, but Jadeja bounced back at the 2013 Champions Trophy to be Man of the Match in the final and win the Golden Ball.

One-day memory: (77 off 59 balls against New Zealand at Manchester, 2019 World Cup)

If Dhoni had made it to the crease and avoided a run-out that evening, Jadeja would enter India's World Cup folklore. The teacher and the ward seemed to have the heist in control, Dhoni planning and Jadeja implementing. Chasing 240 in 50 overs, they took India from 92/6 to 208/6. Then, Dhoni was found short of his crease and Jadeja's 59-ball 77 with four sixes was forgotten, as is the case with many acts of courage in a losing cause.

One more thing: In between IPL games, he often rushes to his farm outside Jamnagar to spend a few hours with his horses."