Returning back to action after five months, star Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja had a dream comeback on Day 1 of the ongoing first Test against Australia. Jadeja was playing his first international match since the Asia Cup group stages last year as he was ruled out because of a knee injury. Jadeja ran through the Australian middle-order on the opening day of 1st match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and registered his 11th five-wicket haul.
With his sensational performance, Jadeja rubbished the talks around the Nagpur pitch. Returning with figures of 5 for 47, Jadeja helped the Indian side bowl out Australia for 177 in just a shade over two sessions.
For the unversed, ahead of the opening Test match between India and Australia, the first look at the Nagpur pitch created quite a stir among the former players and experts, who made a lot of remarks criticizing the Nagpur pitch. However, Jadeja has given rest to all the criticism of his performance.
After the close of play on day 1, during the press conference, Jadeja said: “No no, this is not a rank-turner at all. There is less bounce and the wicket is slow compared to other pitches in India. It was not difficult to defend today. As the Test match progresses, we might see more turn but that is natural everywhere,”
He added: “The ball was coming out of the hands well, the line and length were also good. The wicket doesn’t have much bounce so I was focussing on bowling stump to stump. I knew, if I do that, I can bring LBW and bowled into play,”
Jadeja concluded by revealing how the Ranji Trophy match he played against Tamil Nadu helped him get into a bowling rhythm. He said: “When you play first-class cricket, you get to bowl to quality batters. I played against Tamil Nadu, their batting was strong. So my preparation was good. It was a similar wicket in Chennai, the bounce was less. I repeated the stump-to-stump tactic,”
