Former India captain Ajay Jadeja named Afghanistan’s team mentor

Thiruvananthapuram : The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) on Monday announced that it has roped in former India captain Ajay Jadeja as its team mentor for the upcoming Men’s ODI World Cup happening from October 5 to November 19 in India.

Jadeja captained India in 13 ODIs, and overall played 196 matches, becoming its eighth-highest run-getter in the format by scoring 5359 runs while averaging 37.47 with six hundreds and 30 fifties against his name, apart from playing three World Cups.

One of his most memorable ODI innings was his cameo of 45 off 25 balls in the 1996 Cricket World Cup quarter-final against Pakistan in Bengaluru, including smashing 40 runs off the final two overs against fast-bowling great Waqar Younis.

He also played 15 Tests for India from 1992 to 2000, scoring 576 runs at an average of 26.18 with four half-centuries to his name and a best individual score of 96. Jadeja, who made his first-class debut for Haryana in 1988, played 111 first-class and 291 List A games, scoring over 8000 runs with 31 hundreds and 88 fifties combined from both formats of the game.

After his international career was brought to a halt by a five-year ban due to match fixing, Jadeja worked in some movies as an actor. Though his plea of seeking permission to play international cricket was dismissed by the Delhi High Court, Jadeja did get back to playing domestic cricket for Delhi and later on, became captain-cum coach of the Rajasthan team.

Once his playing days were over, Jadeja ventured into cricket commentary and even served as head coach of Delhi team in 2015-16 season, but quit the role just a fortnight after being appointed into it.

Afghanistan, captained by Hashmatullah Shahidi, will open its 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup campaign against Bangladesh at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala on October 7.