When the going was good' Ajay Jadeja- yesterday's cricket star and mentor of Afghanistan in their stunning wins over cricketing giants during the ODI World Cup last year-accepted virtually no compensation for his services, confirmed Naseeb Khan, CEO of the Afghanistan Cricket Board.
If you play well, that is money and reward enough for me', Khan once said, so whenever the board persisted to offer him, Jadeja declined as quoted in Ariana News.
Signed up just on the eve of the event, or rather in India thereby qualifying to stay on with the brain trust of Afghanistan; Jadeja played his role through their upset wins over England, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, only to see their encouraging campaign thwarted by Glenn Maxwell's exquisite double century that robbed them of a semifinal berth.
Jadeja, 53 now, had an illustrious career in which he played for India 196 One-Day Internationals and scored 5359 runs at an average of 37.47 with six centuries and 30 half-centuries. He played 15 Test matches for India, too, between 1992 and 2000, scoring 576 runs at an average of 26.18, with four half-centuries and his highest being 96.
He said, "During the Afghanistan games, him and Washington bhai sat down and spoke to the guys. So the change has happened partly because of him as well.".
