Jadeja was vice-captain of the Indian U-19 cricket team that won the World Cup in Malaysia in 2008, led by former India captain Virat Kohli. He made his ODI debut on February 8, 2009 against Sri Lanka and scored an unbeaten 60 off 77 balls in that match. However, he made his Test debut almost four years later, on December 13, 2012, against England in Nagpur.

Jadeja was purchased by Chennai Super Kings for $2 million at the 2012 IPL Players Auction. He was bought by the Gujarat Lions in the 2016 IPL Players Auction for ₹9.5 crores after the Chennai Super Kings were banned from the IPL for two seasons. On 22 January 2017, Jadeja became the first Indian left-arm spinner to take 150 One Day International wickets when he dismissed Sam Billings at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. In March 2017, he became the highest-ranked bowler in the world, leaving behind Ravichandran Ashwin, who held the position for a long time. He was announced as the captain of the Chennai Super Kings IPL franchise for the 2022 IPL season, succeeding MS Dhoni. However, he resigned midway through the season.

Personal Life

Jadeja was born on December 6, 1988, into a Gujarati Rajput family in the town of Navagam Ghed in Jamnagar district of Gujarat. His father Anirudh was a security guard in a private security company. His father wanted him to become an officer in the army, but he was interested in cricket and was afraid of his father during his childhood. His mother Lata died in an accident in 2005, and the trauma of his mother's death almost made him quit cricket. His sister Naina is a nurse. He lives in Jamnagar.

Jadeja married Reeva Solanki on April 17, 2016. They had a daughter in June 2017.

National Career
Youth Career

Jadeja first played for India in the U-19 squad in 2005 at the age of 16. He was called up to the Indian squad for the 2006 U/19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka. India finished runners-up, with Jadeja impressing with 3 wickets in the final against Pakistan. In the 2008 U/19 Cricket World Cup, he was vice-captain of the winning Indian team. He played a crucial role with the ball in the tournament, taking 10 wickets in 6 matches at an average of 13.

First-Class Cricket

Jadeja made his debut in first class cricket in the 2006-07 Duleep Trophy, playing for West Zone in the Duleep Trophy and for Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy.

In 2012, Jadeja became the eighth player in history and the first Indian player to score three triple hundreds in the first grade in his career, following Don Bradman, Brian Lara, Bill Ponsford, Wally Hammond, WG Grace, Graeme Hick and Mike Hussey. His first came in early November 2011 against Orissa, where he scored 314 off 375 balls. His second match was against Gujarat in November 2012 where he scored 303 not out. He scored the third in December 2012 against Railways where he scored 331 runs off 501 balls. Jadeja reached this milestone at the young age of just 23.
Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja became the fifth fastest player to complete the double of 2000 runs and 200 wickets in Tests when he scored 56 runs against England in Nottingham.

International Career

Jadeja caught the attention of the national selectors with his strong performances in the Ranji Trophy 2008-09 - 42 wickets and 739 runs - and was selected for the ODI series in Sri Lanka. He made his international debut in the last match of the series on February 8, 2009, where he scored 60*, although India lost the match. In the 2009 World Twenty20, Jadeja was criticized for not scoring quickly enough in India's defeat to England. After previous all-rounder Yusuf Pathan lost his form, Jadeja took his place as No. 7 in the ODI squad in late 2009. In the third ODI match against Sri Lanka at Cuttack on 21 December 2009, Jadeja was named Man of the Match after taking four wickets. His best bowling performance is 4-32.

He made his comeback to the Indian ODI team in the third ODI match against England at The Oval in London. With India leading 58-5 after 19 overs, he scored 78 and added 112 with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and 59 with Ravichandran Ashwin in just 5.1 overs to help his side reach 234-7 in 50 overs. He also scored 2-42 in his 9 overs and was named Player of the Match but England won the rain-affected game. His performance in the fourth ODI at Lord's was mixed: he gave away four crucial overthrows with a poor throw from the boundary, but then caught the last ball brilliantly on the boundary.

In the second T20I match of Australia's tour in February 2012, Jadeja finished with a record of 1/16 in 3 overs and provided two run outs in the Australian innings. India won the match and Jadeja was named Man of the Match, mainly for his performance in the field.

After his impressive performance at the start of the 2012-13 Ranji Trophy season, when he scored two 300+ in four matches (4/125 and then 303* against Gujarat in Surat; 331 and 3/109 against Railways in Rajkot in the 2012-13 Ranji Trophy), he was called up to the 15-member Indian Test team to play the fourth Test against England in Nagpur. In his Test debut against England in Nagpur, he bowled 70 overs and scored 3/117.

In the second ODI of the India-England series in Kochi, Jadeja scored 61 off just 37 balls, leading India to a total of 285. In the second innings, he threw a remarkable spell of 2 for 12 in 7 overs to help India beat England by 127 runs and level the series 1-1. This performance earned Jadeja the Man of the Match award.

In the historic 4-0 home win in the Test match series against Australia in February/March 2013, Jadeja took 24 wickets and dismissed Australian captain Michael Clarke five for six in the series, cementing his place in the team as an all-rounder despite not contributing much with the bat. His seven wickets, including a five-for in the second innings of the final Test match, earned him Man of the Match honors. He played an important role for India in winning the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy, being the best bowler of the tournament with 12 wickets, for which he was awarded the Golden Ball. In the final against England, he scored 33* with the bat and took 2 wickets. He was also selected in the "Team of the Tournament" by the ICC and ESPNCricinfo.

In August 2013, he was ranked as the number 1 bowler in ODI cricket by the ICC. Jadeja is the first Indian bowler to top the rankings since Anil Kumble, who topped the table in 1996. He is the fourth Indian bowler after Kapil Dev, Maninder Singh and Kumble to be ranked No. 1.

Jadeja scored his first 50 in a Test match on July 20, 2014 against England and saved the match for India, who were in trouble at 235/7. He scored 68 runs off just 57 balls. His partnership of 99 with Bhuvneshwar Kumar helped India set England a target of 319.

Jadeja was selected for the 2015 Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand despite not being fully fit due to a shoulder injury. He picked up 9 wickets in 8 matches. His results with the bat were modest, scoring only 57 runs in 5 innings. India then lost to Australia in the semifinals. After his poor performance in the next ODI series in Bangladesh, he was dropped from the Indian team.

In the next Ranji season (2015-16), Jadeja bounced back strongly, taking 38 wickets and scoring 215 runs in 4 matches, including 3 50+ scores. His strong performances were rewarded with selection for the Indian Test team that faced South Africa at home. Jadeja helped his team to victory by taking 23 wickets in 4 matches. He scored 109 runs in the series, including crucial knocks in the lower order. Jadeja was named in the Indian limited overs team for the Australia tour where he played 5 ODIs and 3 T20Is. In the ODIs, Jadeja pitched economically in a series where more than 3000 runs were scored in 5 matches. He picked up 3 wickets at an economy rate of 5.35. In T20Is, he was the second highest wicket picker with 5 wickets in 3 matches. In the second match of the series, Jadeja provided the all-important wicket of Shane Watson with his own bowling and also bowled out Aaron Finch, who was on 74 at the time.

He featured in all four Test matches against the visiting Australian side. He scored 25 wickets and two handy half centuries in the sequence, which earned him the Player of the Match and Series award in the last completed series on March 28, 2017.

Along with Ravichandran Ashwin, he became the first spinner pair to be ranked joint No. 1 bowler in the history of the ICC Test rankings. On August 5, 2017, Jadeja became the fastest left-arm bowler to reach 150 wickets in terms of number of Tests played (32).

On October 5, 2018, he scored his first century in Tests. In March 2019, during the second ODI against Australia, Jadeja became the third Indian cricketer to score 2,000 runs and capture 150 wickets in ODIs. In April 2019, he was named in the Indian squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

In October 2019, Jadeja scored his 200th wicket in Test cricket in the first Test against South Africa.

In September 2021, Jadeja was named in India's squad for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. His multiple spin bowling partner, R. Ashwin, was also named in the squad after not playing in the white-ball team for four years.

On March 5, 2022, Jadeja broke Kapil Dev's 35-year-old record of 175* in a Test match against Sri Lanka. He achieved the highest scoring record with 7th place or lower. He then scored 5/41 and then 4/46 in the two innings and recorded a match rate of 9/87, helping India beat Sri Lanka by an innings and 222 runs.

He scored his first overseas century in the fifth Test match of the India-England tour in 2022.

In July 2022, he was named India's vice-captain for the away ODI series against the West Indies.

In September 2022, Jadeja was named in India's squad for the 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup, but was unable to play due to a serious knee injury.

After a five-month recovery, Jadeja returned to the Test team for the home edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Nagpur on February 9, where he took a five-wicket haul. Jadeja becomes the fastest Indian to take 250 wickets and score more than 2500 runs in Test cricket.

He is often referred to as a 3D player.

Indian Premier League

Ravindra Jadeja was selected by the Rajasthan Royals for the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008 and played an important role in their victory (the Royals defeated Chennai Super Kings in the final). Jadeja scored 135 runs in 14 matches at a strike rate of 131.06, his best score being 36* against Kings XI Punjab. He was even better in 2009, scoring 295 runs at a strike rate of 110.90 and conceding less than 6.5 runs per over. Shane Warne, the captain of the Rajasthan Royals, described Jadeja as a "superstar in the making." Warne also nicknamed him "Rockstar."

Jadeja sat out the 2010 IPL due to a ban for contractual irregularities. In 2011, he was bought by the Kochi Tuskers Kerala for $950,000.

Jadeja CSK
 The Kochi Tuskers retired from the IPL in September 2011, and in the 2012 IPL auction, Jadeja was bought by the Chennai Super Kings for $2 million (about Rs. 9.8 million) after a tie with the Deccan Chargers, who bid the same amount. Jadeja was the most expensive player in this year's auction. He was named Man of the Match in the second match of the season against Deccan Chargers for his all-round performance (48 runs off 29 balls, 5/16 in 4 overs).

He was named in the Cricinfo CLT20 XI for his performance in 2014.

In a Mother's Day match during IPL 2015, Jadeja performed well as a spin bowler in Chennai; he took four wickets for 11 runs with a brilliant spell against Rajasthan Royals.

In the 19th match of the Indian Premier League 2021, Jadeja scored 62*, including an all-time highest total of 37 runs in the last over bowled by Harshal Patel. He later took 3/13 in his four overs and was named man of the match.

Jadeja was named captain of Chennai Super Kings ahead of the 2022 IPL season, replacing MS Dhoni. However, he resigned mid-season and handed over the captaincy back to Dhoni. He was later ruled out of the tournament due to a rib injury. Jadeja and the franchise later unfollowed each other on Instagram, leading to reports of an argument. However, CSK's CEO claimed he was ruled out on medical advice and denied the allegations of split.

In the Indian Premier League 2023 final, Chennai Super Kings needed 10 off the last two balls. Jadeja scored 6 and 4 to give CSK the title.

Image in the Media

Sunil Gavaskar said in March 2013 that Ravi Jadeja, along with Cheteshwar Pujara, was a role model for young players. Jadeja's contributions to India's 4-0 Test match win over Australia in February and March 2013 were praised in the media, and Gavaskar described him as one of the architects of the victory. Jadeja's dominance over Clarke was also praised in the media. After the end of the fourth Test, Jadeja was named Player of the Week by the portal Cricket World.

Since his performance in the 2009 ICC World Twenty20, Jadeja has been a constant target of sarcasm and jokes on cricket portals and by Indian cricket fans. He has been jokingly referred to as Sir Ravindra Jadeja on Twitter and Facebook since an online joke calling him that went viral. When Jadeja was bowled out for 16 runs in the Test against Australia in Chennai in February 2013 without giving up a single knock, a cricket portal described his dismissal by saying, "Jadeja is 284 runs short of his fourth triple-century in the first class." After his good performance against Australia in the 2013 Test series, numerous jokes were made about Jadeja on Twitter, comparing him to Rajinikanth. His Wikipedia article was temporarily vandalized to mock him. In April 2013, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina, and Ravichandran Ashwin, Jadeja's teammates at Chennai Super Kings, tweeted several Jadeja jokes on Twitter, including one in which Dhoni referred to him as Sri Sri Pandit Sir Lord Ravindra Jadeja. In response, Jadeja stated in April 2013 that it was a joke that everyone enjoyed and that he had no problem with the prefix sir.

Due to his flamboyance with the bat, ball and fielding, Jadeja is often referred to as a 'rock star', as he was originally dubbed by Shane Warne. His IPL jersey has the name 'Jaddu' on the back, not 'Jadeja', and Dhoni is often heard calling him that behind the stumps. Jadeja's sword celebration has been a popular part of world cricket over the years as he usually produces this after scoring 50 or 100. However, he was often criticized for his allusion to caste in relation to the sword celebration.

During the 2019 Cricket World Cup, commentator Sanjay Manjrekar criticized Jadeja by calling him a "petty player". The former apologized after Jadeja's performance at the tournament.

Awards

ICC ODI Team of the Year: 2013, 2016.
Madhavrao Scindia Award for most wickets in Ranji Trophy: 2008-09.
Ranked 2nd in the ICC Top 10 Test all-rounders (2018).
Arjuna Award: 2019