Indian national cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has spoken about his competition with Ravindra Jadeja. He made a bold claim that though he is jealous of his teammate, he admires him a lot.

Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have been the backbone of the Indian team in Tests for the past decade. The duo has been competing neck-to-neck and make sure that they give their best for the team, both with the bat and the ball.

Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja stepped up for the team in the just-concluded first Test match against the Bangladesh national cricket team. Both rose to the occasion when it mattered the most as the team was under pressure. The hosts were trailing 144/6 and that is when they joined forces.

Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja put in a stellar batting performance as they joined forces to add 199 runs, which pulled the Indian team out of trouble and put them in a dominant position. While the off-spinner hit a century, the left-hander ended up hitting 87 runs.

With the ball, they combined to take wickets in no time and make a mockery of the Bangladesh batsmen. Jadeja took 5 wickets while Ashwin took 6, which all came in the second innings, as they helped India win the game by the massive margin of 280 runs and go 1-0 up in the series.

Ravichandran Ashwin was asked if he ever saw Jadeja as a rival in the Indian team. Responding to this, the all-rounder stated that playing alongside always forces players to get ahead of each other. He mentioned that his admiration for Jadeja has gone a step further as he knows that he cannot beat the all-rounder. Speaking to Jio Cinema, he explained:

“Sometimes when you’re racing with your teammates, you want to be ahead of everyone else, even within the team. It’s like two brothers growing up together, isn’t it? And then, little by little, you start to admire each other.”

“Now, that admiration has gone up another level, knowing that I can never beat Jadeja. So I feel comfortable with myself, but totally inspired by what he has done.”

I am jealous of him but I totally admire him – Ravichandran Ashwin on Ravindra Jadeja

Ravichandran Ashwin further praised Ravindra Jadeja as a top-performing fielder and said that he has admired him a lot over the last 4-5 years. Talking about his career, he explained:

“Jadeja is a fire on the pitch. He is a rocket on the pitch. So, in general, I envy him. I am jealous of him, but I totally admire him. I have learned to admire him over the last 4 or 5 years, even more than in the past.”

“It’s been a very inspiring story. On many of these occasions over the last 3-4 years, when he came up to bat, I felt very calm and collected in the locker room. It’s a very inspiring story of how he found his place and how he contributed,” he concluded.