World number one-ranked Test all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has acknowledged the role of former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and current India captain Virat Kohli behind his meteoric rise in the longest format of the game. The Saurashtra man on Tuesday edged out Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan to claim the top rank among all-rounders apart from maintaining pole position in the bowlers' chart in the latest ICC rankings. Jadeja currently has 438 points among the all-rounders while Shakib has 431 points. Jadeja also gained nine places to take 51st rank among batsmen.
Soon after the rankings were released, Kohli took to Twitter to congratulate 'sword master' Jadeja. "Big Congratulations to our sword master Mr Jadeja for becoming the Number 1 test all rounder with @ashwinravi99. Well done Jaddu! @imjadeja," he tweeted.
Later in the day, Jadeja said his journey to the top was possible because of Dhoni and Kohli. "My humble journey 2 be #1 Test AllRounder & bowler was possible due 2 @msdhoni @imVkohli, my fans & family," the all-rounder tweeted.
Incidentally, the match which put Jadeja on top of the heap is also the one where he breached ICC Code of Conduct to be handed a one-Test suspension.
In the recently-concluded second Test against Sri Lanka, which India won by an innings and 53 runs, Jadeja contributed an unbeaten 70 and also took seven wickets, including a five-for.
