Mumbai, Oct. 6 -- After the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series was lost, Indian cricket strategists held a review at the start of the year before taking some tough calls. Ravichandran Ashwin had left the scene. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were on a weak footing even before they announced their retirement in May. For Ravindra Jadeja, of the same generation and value, it was felt he was unaffected by age. The spin all-rounder has proved them right. The left-hander has raised his batting to another level. At 36, Jadeja is having his best calendar year with the bat, scoring 659 runs in seven Tests at an average of 82.37. His Ahmedabad hundred against West Indies was his second of the year. In the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series, he scored five consecutive fifties besides a hundred. Basics in place, supreme belief in his defence and sticking to his strengths, Jadeja's batting was long underutilised in the lower-middle order. Of his 129 Test innings, he has batted at No.7 or 8 on 82 occasions. It is only in the past two years that he's begun to bat at 5 and 6 and the results have been instant. "If you get the chance to bat up the order, you definitely bat with a different mindset," he said on Saturday after India wrapped up an innings and 140-run win. "I've batted at 8 and 9 before, and you can end up playing a loose shot and get out. At 5 and 6, you are aware of the responsibility to build partnerships. That has definitely made a difference." With the ball, now that the home season has resumed, he delivered a business-as-usual 4-for in the second innings at Ahmedabad. Jadeja is close to achieving the double of 350 wickets and 4000 runs. Kapil Dev's 400 wickets and 5000 runs are not entirely out of reach. That's one of the things with longevity, you can rewrite records. And Jadeja has earned the right to join such elite company. "At this stage, I am not thinking about other records or milestones, just working on my fitness and enjoying my cricket," he said. "Whenever I am at home, I always work on my fitness so that I just continue doing what I've been doing for so many years." Jadeja is still supremely fit, covers the ground with some speed and effects run outs from the boundary. He may appear to be a natural, but the Saurashtra all-rounder told R Ashwin in an interview that it is down to regimented training as a boy under coach Mahendra Singh Chauhan. That included a 20 km run on empty stomach and catching practice, diving and sliding on wet, muddy surfaces - all that made his basics so strong. "I work a lot on my fitness. I don't put up a lot of videos of what all I do on social media, but I do it," he said. "It has been making a difference on the ground, and it feels good that I am able to give 100% at this age. It doesn't feel like my fitness level is going down, so it puts me in a good frame of mind." At a time when transition is on across formats, Indian cricket can't have enough of Jadeja, certainly in Test cricket. Now, with Ashwin retired, India can focus more on spinners who pitch the ball in the right areas to maximise home advantage. It a big factor in registering quick points on the World Test Championship (WTC) charts. At Ahmedabad, Jadeja didn't even get to bowl enough from the end where there was more rough to play with. Against the hapless West Indies batters, his nagging accuracy, bowled with a repeatable action was enough. With the next Test starting at the Ferozeshah Kotla in Delhi on Friday, Jadeja will give the visitors no respite....