Today India beat the West Indies in the Champions Trophy

Four years ago, almost to the day, in the same city of London, Ravindra Jadeja was a hare caught in the headlights. He could neither get out nor hit out, and his 25 off 35 in that Twenty20 match against England - India were knocked out of that World T20 - earned him what seemed like a lifetime of ridicule. He wasn't supposed to succeed at international cricket. He did. He wasn't supposed to succeed outside Asia at least. He has, for now.

The Indians celebrating their win.

When Jadeja was introduced in this Champions Trophy match, West Indies had marched to 92 for 1 in 17 overs, and Johnson Charles, an awkward batsman to deal with, was timing everything he hit. He had carted Bhuvneshwar Kumar, deflected Umesh Yadav and lofted Virat Kohli and even R Ashwin. India were staring at a big total, but Jadeja twirled that ball like he does his new 'tache. Some turned and some didn't; most of them were headed for the stumps, but at different speeds; five of them got wickets, two lbws and one bowled; West Indies went from 102 for 1 to 182 for 9, and India into the semi-final of the Champions Trophy.

 

West Indies now need to beat South Africa to progress; Pakistan were knocked out.

 

India 236 for 2 (Dhawan 102*, Karthik 51*, Rohit 52) beat West Indies 233 for 9 (Charles 60, Sammy 56*, Jadeja 5-36) by 8 wickets