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'Girls? The only scoring I do is with the bat!'

The visiting Indians defeated President's Eleven by the proverbial mile in the three-day game just ended, and even if Anil Kumble was the hero, officiating captain Ajay Jadeja looked very much the man in charge.

The win mightily pleased the neighbourhood of the Sunrise Sports Club, where this game was held, since it is a largely Indian locality dominated by people of Gujarati descent. "Ajay khemcho (Ajay, how are you)," was an oft-heard greeting at the club during the three days.

One mission accomplished, the next one -- a Test recall -- seems close at hand for Jadeja. Such has been his career that any Test which comes his way becomes an event. Since his Test debut against South Africa in an away series in 1992, Jadeja has been accorded berths in only 11 Tests, eight of them on foreign pitches -- and this, for a man who, if his critics are to be believed, is not too good against fast bowlers.

The only three Tests which Jadeja played on home wickets came against New Zealand in the triumphant home series in 1995. In the last two years, he has managed only three Tests, two against the West Indies (Antigua) and one against Sri Lanka (Colombo) -- and in those, he has scores of 96 and 73 in two of the three innings.

Yet, when it comes to the real thing, Jadeja is unwanted.

By popular consensus, what has kept Jadeja from retaining his position in a Test squad that he is said to possess a dodgy technique against fast bowlers, a pre-requisite if you are an opener. And therein lies the irony -- because the only chances Jadeja has got have been because the wicket was perceived to be a green top, and he was played as the extra batsman!

Though he has rattled up big scores at every opportunity, he has never been a regular in the Test team -- a fact that used to frustrate him earlier, but leaves him unmoved now.

His phlegmatic mood of the present, one suspects, comes from the fact that he has found his place in the sun in the ODIs, having risen to vice captain status. That is an important role to fill, more so in a side that has men of the stature of Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Javagal Srinath and Anil Kumble.

Given that India could be faced with a greentop in the one off Test, Jadeja was asked to open in the three-day game and he looked in superb nick during his 61. His off-driving, which is more of a walking drive, was as good as any seen during the match, and that performance should confirm his Test berth.

Does the prospect please him? "I am philosophical about it," says Jadeja. There is no eagerness in his tone, only a tone of resignation, for he knows that even if he plays this Test, the next one could still be a long time coming!

This air or resignation differs from his mood of last year, when for a while he was upset over the century he missed against the West Indies in Antigua in April. Even in ODIs, Jadeja was far from star-status till the last away series against Sri Lanka in June-July 1997. His luck only changed after his valiant but vain hundred at Colombo, when India had been set a target of 300 plus. With Srinath injured, Kumble out of form, an indifferent Azhar and a worried Tendulkar, the Indian team was short of heroes. Jadeja neatly filled the vacuum.

The recognition he got then should, by rights, have come a year before, when he played perhaps the most famous innings of the decade, in the process taking the feared Waqar Younis to the cleaners during the epic 1996 World Cup quarter-final against Pakistan in Bangalore -- perhaps the first time in his career that the Pak pace ace was being treated with such disdain.

It was only when the Indian team took on, collectively, a beaten look that the effervescent Jadeja got recognition by fans, the media and the sponsors -- perhaps because his mood and mein differed markedly from that of the rest of the team members.

His looks, which he reckons is "commonplace" triumphed because he has, as he puts it, the "winner's outlook." "Initially, I missed those long innings in the middle because even if I was playing one-dayers I was coming so low down the order," says Jadeja "But after that Bangalore match, which I believe was watched by more people on television than any other match in the game's history, I realised that what is important is your given role and not big score.

"I realised that I was coming in during crunch situations, in do or die moments, and I knew that if I could seize the moment, I would be a hero," says Jadeja.

Ever an optimist - "I can never be pessimistic" - Jadeja looked at the positive side of his batting spot instead of rueing his demotion from opener's slot.

But given the prevalent mood of insecurity within the team, was it easy to remain positive? "I guess I can do it because I don't depend on cricket for my livelihood. I have enough money. I don't need to play cricket for money. So I am not insecure that way," says Jadeja.

And what, I ask, about his role as the team's sex-symbol, and all the talk of how he scores with the girls? "Yes, well, I receive letters by the hundreds from girls," Jadeja smiles. "But as for scoring, the only scoring I do is with the bat!"

Press him on this, and Jadeja says he was a bigger hit with the girls when he was not a celebrity. "Nowadays, if I approach a girl, she tells herself, 'what does he think, just because he is Ajay Jadeja...'," he grins. "Besides," adds the most eligible bachelor in Indian sports today, "even on tours, the schedule is so cramped, it is only cricket, cricket all the time.."

That said, he makes it clear that if his next dose of cricket comes as early as Wednesday, he for one certainly won't complain.