India’s talismanic all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was making a comeback to International cricket after a long gap of five months and he was able to hit the ground running. Jadeja returned with 5-47 in the first innings of the opening day of the ongoing first Test match against Australia at Nagpur on Thursday to put the home team in the driver’s seat.
Courtesy of Jadeja’s 11th five-wicket haul, Australia was skittled out for a paltry score of 177 runs. Australia did well in the first session after losing both their openers – Usman Khawaja and David Warner – in quick succession, as they went to lunch at 76-2.
However, Jadeja was able to strike quickly after Lunch as he accounted for Marnus Labuschagne, with KS Bharat making his first dismissal on his debut. Jadeja then plumbed Matt Renshaw on a golden duck and also got the better of dangerous Steven Smith.
The left-arm orthodox spinner then plumbed debutant Todd Murphy and Peter Handscomb in front of the wickets.
Jadeja revealed he was working hard on his fitness at the NCA and playing the Ranji Trophy match for Saurashtra against Tamil Nadu, gave him a lot of confidence.
Jadeja said at the end of the day’s play while talking to the official broadcaster, Star Sports, “Very happy with the way I was bowling. I was enjoying my bowling. Playing after 5 months, playing Test cricket, it’s tough. I was prepared for it and I was working hard on my fitness as well as on my skills at NCA. I played a first-class game (Ranji) after a long time and I bowled almost 42 overs. It gave me a lot of confidence to come here and play a Test match.”
He added, “There was no bounce on the wicket, I was targeting the stump-to-stump line. The odd ball was spinning and the odd ball was going straight. Being a left-arm spinner, if you get batsmen out caught behind or stumped, you always give credit to the ball. In Test match cricket, whatever wicket you take, you are happy with that. I was working hard on my bowling when I was in Bangalore at the NCA. I was bowling 10-12 hours everyday and that helped me a lot. I was working on my rhythm because I knew that I have to play Test match and I have to bowl long spells.”
India was given a good start by Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul but the latter was dismissed at the fag end of the day. The home team is 77-1 and they trail by 100 runs at stumps on Day 1.
