Ajay Jadeja Height, Weight, Age, Facts, Biography

Ajay Jadeja is an Indian cricket commentator, analyst, and former professional cricketer who represented his country in the longer formats of the sport (15 Tests and 196 ODIs), between February 1992 and June 2000, as a middle-order batter. He scored nearly 6,000 international runs across both formats and also captained India in 13 ODI matches. He was regarded as one of the best fielders in the Indian national cricket team during his stint and could be considered among those who were at the forefront of a change in the mindset toward athleticism in the Indian cricketing fraternity. Ajay’s promising international career came to an abrupt halt in mid-2000 when he was handed a 5-year ban for match-fixing. The ban was revoked by the Delhi High Court in January 2003 but he was never selected for another international cricket match although he played domestic cricket for the next few years. In the Indian domestic circuit, he played for Haryana (1988-1999, 2013), Jammu and Kashmir (2000), Delhi (2003-2004), and Rajasthan (2005–2007). Although Ajay had unofficially retired from all forms of competitive cricket in 2007, he attempted a comeback in 2013 which was short-lived. Post-retirement, he has worked as a cricket analyst and commentator with several different TV networks and online cricket websites.

Born Name

Ajaysinhji Daulatsinhji Jadeja

Nick Name

Ajay, Jaddu, Ajju

Sun Sign

Aquarius

Born Place

Jamnagar, Saurashtra, Gujarat, India

Residence

Delhi, India

Nationality

Education

Ajay had attended the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Mehta Vidyalaya, a private senior secondary school in the national capital of New Delhi, run by an educational trust known as the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.

He was later sent to Rajkumar College, one of the oldest K-12 institutions in India, located in Rajkot, Gujarat. Ajay was not very fond of this boarding school and reportedly tried to escape from there 13 times, in a particular year.

He later joined the Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, a school located in Lodhi Estate, New Delhi. He completed his schooling there and after his high school graduation, he joined Hindu College, a constituent college of the University of Delhi, a collegiate central university located in Delhi.

Occupation

Cricket Commentator, Analyst, Professional Cricketer (Retired)

Family

• Father – Daulatsinhji Pratapsinhji Jadeja (Politician, Member of the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Indian Parliament) from 1971-1984, Member of the state legislative assembly of Gujarat from 1977-1980) (d. March 2015)
• Mother – Gyanba Jadeja
• Others – Rajkumar Shri Chatrapalsinhji (Uncle) (Former Cricketer) (d. April 2009), Ashok Jaitly (Father-in-Law), Akshay Jaitly (Brother-in-Law), Jaya Jaitly (Mother-in-Law) (Politician, Activist, Author, Former President of the Samata Party, a political party in India), K. K. Chettur (Grandfather-in-Law) (Civil Servant, Diplomat, India’s first Ambassador to Japan) (d. April 1956)

Batting

Right-Handed

Bowling

Right-Arm Medium

Role

Middle-Order Batter

Jersey Number

3 – One Day International (ODI)

Build

Athletic

Height

5 ft 10 in or 178 cm

Weight

76 kg or 167.5 lbs

Girlfriend / Spouse

Ajay has dated –

1. Aditi Jaitly (2000-Present) – Ajay married professional classical dancer Aditi Jaitly in 2000. They had known each other since Ajay was a student at the Sardar Patel Vidyalaya in New Delhi. They have 2 children together – a son named Aiman and a daughter named Ameera.

Race / Ethnicity

Asian (Indian)

Hair Color

Salt-and-Pepper

Eye Color

Dark Brown

Sexual Orientation

Straight

Distinctive Features

• Toned physique
• Tousled hair
• Cheerful smile
• Clean-shaven look

Religion

Hinduism

Ajay Jadeja Facts

1. Ajay is a member of the erstwhile Nawanagar royal family. Nawanagar was an Indian princely state located on the southern shores of the Gulf of Kutch (situated in the present-day western Indian state of Gujarat). It became a part of the newly independent India in 1947. The city area is now known as Jamnagar, Ajay’s birthplace.
2. Through his connection with this erstwhile royal family, Ajay is a distant relative of the aristocrat and legendary cricketer K. S. Ranjitsinhji (the ruler of Nawanagar from 1907-1933). The Ranji Trophy (the premier domestic first-class cricket competition in India) is named after him.
3. K. S. Ranjitsinhji’s nephew, Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji (d. December 1959), is widely recognized as one of India’s first great batsmen. The Duleep Trophy (a domestic first-class cricket competition originally contested by teams representing geographical zones of India which since the 2016-17 season has been played by teams chosen by the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) selectors) is named after him.
4. In April 1998, in an ODI match against Zimbabwe, Ajay and Mohammad Azharuddin had put together an unbroken 4th-wicket stand of 275 runs. Incredibly, at the end of January 2023, nearly 25 years later, this record for the highest partnership for the 4th wicket in an ODI match was still intact.
5. Amazingly, just a few months ago, in August 1997, the same duo had set the record for the highest partnership for the 5th wicket in an ODI match when they put together 223 runs against Sri Lanka. The record stood for about 16 years and was broken only in September 2013. By the end of January 2023, Ajay and Azharuddin’s 223-run stand was still the 4th-highest partnership for the 5th wicket in an ODI match.
6. The greatest moment of Ajay’s international career was perhaps India’s quarter-final clash against arch-rivals Pakistan in the 1996 ICC (International Cricket Council) Cricket World Cup. In the first half of the match, the Indian inning was meandering at 236/6 in 47 overs with Ajay batting at 16 runs off 16 balls.
7. He then played one of the greatest ODI cameos of all time – smoking 29 runs off the next 9 balls that he faced to turbo-charge India’s score to a formidable total of 287 runs. His whirlwind knock of 45 runs proved vital in the end as India went on to win the match by 39 runs – their 2nd successive win over Pakistan in an ICC Cricket World Cup match.
8. In April 1999, in an ODI match against England, Ajay dismissed 3 batsmen in the only over that he bowled in the match to help India win a low-scoring thriller by 20 runs.
9. In June 2000, in what turned out to be the last ODI (and international) match of his career, Ajay top-scored for India (93 runs) in an ACC (Asian Cricket Council) Asia Cup game, against Pakistan, that India eventually lost.
10. He made his acting debut by playing the character of Rohan Potdar in the 2003 Hindi-language action-drama film Khel – No Ordinary Game. He also acted in a 2009 Hindi-language film titled Pal Pal Dil Ke Ssaat.
11. In late 2006, Ajay participated in the first season of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa, an Indian Hindi-language competitive dance-based reality TV show that is based on globally popular similar TV shows like Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing with the Stars. He stood 4th in a field of 8 contestants.
12. In 2015, he was appointed the coach of the Delhi team competing in the senior-level domestic circuit but resigned from the post soon after.

Featured Image by Ajay Jadeja / Instagram