Former
England captain Kevin Pietersen recently revealed his admiration for Indian
all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, urging all aspiring British cricketers to follow
in his footsteps for success and longevity in Test match cricket.

In a recent
blogpost for Betway Insider, the South African-born former cricketer was
praises for Jadeja, while also highlighting the need for England to prioritise that
kind of a player because of their versatility with both bat and ball in all
three formats.

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“It
frustrates me that there still isn’t an international-standard English left-arm
spin bowler who bats. Look at what Ravindra Jadeja has done for India in Test
match cricket, one-day cricket, and T20 cricket,” Pietersen wrote.

“It’s the
one position that the ECB must be prioritising. They need to invest in somebody
because someone of that ilk is priceless across all three formats. If you’re a
kid, an emerging player, or a county cricketer, copy Jadeja. Copy what Jadeja
does because he’s an absolute superstar. You’ll have a long career as a Test
match cricketer for England.”

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Jadeja’s all-round
contribution has been invaluable to the recent success of Indian cricket. The southpaw
has played 51 Tests, 168 ODIs and 50 T20Is for India, scoring a combined 4,582
runs and picking up 447 wickets.  

Initially
emerging as a bowling-allrounder, ‘Sir’ Jadeja’s batting has gone from strength-to-strength
recently, with his average, particularly in the longest format, shooting up. While
England have a pace-allrounder option in Sam Curran, who can also contribute significantly
down the order, Pietersen wants to see a left-arm spinner take up that role.

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Pietersen
also feels England are low on spin options, despite Dom Bess and Jack Leach being
two promising spinners. “Leach is not a Test match spinner and Bess is not a
Test match spinner. I wrote nearly two years ago that I hope Leach doesn’t get
remembered for Specsavers adverts because it’s about winning Test matches.”

“Unfortunately,
I was right, because he’s not good enough. He hasn’t bowled any teams out, he
hasn’t bowled England to glory in Tests like Panesar and Swann used to do.”