The Indian players, who had been part of the T20 World Cup squad in the West Indies, celebrated the first anniversary of the triumph in Birmingham last month.

During the ceremonial cake-cutting, Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah offered a piece to Ravindra Jadeja before screaming “happy retirement”, in jest. Jadeja quipped, “Ek hi format se liya hu bas,” reminding everyone he had only stepped away from T20Is.

There had been whispers about Jadeja once Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli decided to quit Test cricket following his uninspiring performances in the last two series — against New Zealand at home and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia.

Jadeja played in only three of the five Tests Down Under despite being India’s go-to spinner overseas for the last few years. The left-arm spinner was preferred over Ravichandran Ashwin during the Ravi Shastri-Kohli era, mainly because of his batting when it came to picking one of them.

At 36, he remains India’s fittest cricketer and is still the best bet across formats. Talk of workload, and it all vanishes into thin air when it concerns Jadeja.

In the current Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, his batting assumed greater significance in a young, inexperienced line-up. Being handed a more defined role, he has delivered consistently in his fourth tour of England with the Test side.

Having run out of partners in the opener in Leeds, he made amends in the next two matches with scores of 89, 69 not out, 72 and 61 not out. The way he held the innings together with the late-order was inspirational and his cool demeanour seemed to rub off on the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj on the final day of the third Test.

A significant change in the current series has been his temperament. He has shown no urgency to push for the runs, knowing well that it will come if he can occupy the crease. It showed during the 477 minutes he spent while batting at Lord’s and the 343 minutes at Edgbaston.

While Ben Stokes walked away with the accolades after England snatched victory, it could well have come Jadeja’s way had he managed to take his team home. He shielded the tail and brought the team tantalisingly close to the target before Siraj’s dismissal.

In many ways, it was about Stokes and Jadeja on Monday as they pushed themselves to their limits to safeguard their fortress. It was imminent that one would have to fail.

Jadeja has a good record in England with the bat, being only 31 short of 1000 runs. While his statement of intent in this series has been widely acclaimed, he had been clear about his priorities long before the tour began. The low bounce has always suited his style, and he began his preparations soon after CSK’s last match in the IPL.

Far away from the IPL glitz and glamour, the all-rounder worked with his statemate and India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak in Rajkot. He has reaped the benefits of his work ethics, showing the character and the fight when all seemed lost.

As Siraj sank to his haunches at Lord’s on Monday evening, Jadeja looked up in despair.

The thought of launching an offensive earlier for a favourable result may have crossed his mind, but he had shown the courage to take it down to the wire.

“He would have identified the bowlers he could target... Ideally, if someone had to take the risk and get out, it should have been Jadeja rather than Siraj,” Anil Kumble said on JioHotstar.

But will this series offer him a second chance?