Amid all the intense battle and tough going, India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja still found a lighter moment – a moment of humor with, surprisingly, umpire Nitin Menon, who mostly dons a serious look when doing his job on the field.
This incident is of when India took their third new ball – after the 160 overs mark of Australia’s first innings in the ongoing 4th Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
India had been grinding hard in the field for two days as the Aussie batters made the most of the placid, slow, and low surface in Ahmedabad. During this, too, Jadeja, known for his playful character had some fun with umpire Nitin Menon.
As Virat Kohli and other Indian players checked out the new ball, Ravindra Jadeja comically touched Nitin Menon on his chest and poked fun at the umpire.
The video of this hilarious incident has gone viral on social media with the fans having a good laugh at it and some even are surprised by this side of Nitin Menon.
Watch: Ravindra Jadeja pranks Nitin Menon
https://twitter.com/javedan00643948/status/1634147569591808001?s=20
Meanwhile, the Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill remained unbeaten in the 10 overs they played toward the end of the day, scoring 36 runs after Australia were bowled out for 490 runs in 167.2 overs. Usman Khawaja scored 180 while Cameron Green scored 114.
Senior off-spinner R Ashwin returned with another five-wicket haul in his bag and created quite a few records today. Ashwin’s figures of 6/91 in 47.2 overs, which is an economy rate of 1.9, stood miles ahead of the other four Indian bowlers on show in Ahmedabad.
With 113 wickets against Australia in the BGT, Ashwin is now the leading-wicket taker among Indian bowlers against Australia, and he’s the joint-leading wicket-taker in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, joint with Lyon.
India will have to bat the entire Day 3 to continue to have a chance to winning this Test – they will also have to score at a faster rate than Australia did; Shubman Gill did show his intentions by dancing down and smashing Lyon for a six in the last over of the day – and to have their chances alive of reaching the WTC final.
