Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting feels that Ravindra Jadeja could end up as the leading wicket-taker of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023.
Ponting lavished praise on the India all-rounder who made a stellar comeback to international cricket after 5 months by putting up a match-winning performance in the Nagpur Test – 5-wicket haul and 70 runs with the bat – to down Australia by an innings and 132 runs.
When is the second India-Australia Test?
The second Test match between India and Australia will start on February 17, Friday, in Delhi.
Australia have a lot to ponder over going into the second Test – about their selections, injured players, and the batters not having a clue of facing Jadeja.
Ricky Ponting made a big prediction about Ravindra Jadeja
Jadeja was the Player of the Series in the 2017 series which India won 2-1 at home. Ricky Ponting won’t be surprised if Jadeja adds more awards to his list in this series.
“As the series goes on, if his body holds up and he can get through the four Test matches, I think he could very well be the leading wicket-taker in this entire series,” Ricky Ponting said on the ICC Review.
Coming into the Nagpur Test, and this series, Jadeja had proved his fitness during a Ranji game for Saurashtra against Tamil Nadu in Chennai. The southpaw took a 7-wicket haul with the ball and had, importantly, sent down 41 overs in the Chennai heat.
In Nagpur then, after shining with the ball, Jadeja – with an innings of 70 (185) showed why he’s so crucial to Team India’s balance, and why he’s been one of India’s best Test batters in the past few years.
Ricky Ponting said he’d already had an inkling that Jadeja will be a nightmare for the Australian team prior to the series.
“I had seen his return to first-class cricket last week and he got some 11 wickets or something. As soon as I saw that I knew Aussies were in for a nightmare.
“Because of how he (Jadeja) bowls on those sort of wickets – the pace that he bowls, the line that he bowls to right-handers in particular, where he is pitching the ball on the stumps all the time, and one would turn and one will slide on, like we saw, with the dismissal of Steven Smith today. I mean they’re two identical deliveries. One just happened to turn and the other one went straight on and went back through the gate and bowled him,” the former Aussie skipper added.
