The first day of the Indore Test was a frustrating day for India captain Rohit Sharma as first his team was bowled out for 109, after he’d won the toss and elected to bat first, and then, Australia finished the day with a lead of 47 runs with 6 wickets still in hand.
Frustrations mounted for Rohit Sharma because of Ravindra Jadeja, the star player and the Man of the Match of the previous two Test matches. Because of Jadeja’s desperation to get rid of Usman Khawaja, India lost two reviews inside 10 overs. Both the times the ball was missing the leg-stump.
And, to make matters worse, in the next over after burning the second review, R Ashwin had trapped Marnus Labuschagne, which was out, but the umpire gave it not out. Having lost two reviews in quick time, Rohit opted against a review this time, only to be made rueing his decision again.
After seeing that Ashwin’s non-reviewed appeal for Labuschagne was out, Rohit was irriated and shouted toward Jadeja, inadvertently slipping out an abuse toward the all-rounder.
“Jaddu bsdk dekh ball kaha lag raha hai,” Rohit Sharma shouted at Jadeja.
Watch the video here:
Rohit Sharma "Jaddu bsdk dekh ball kaha lag raha hai" 😭🤣❤️#INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/tORBDzOgLP
— 𝓼. (@Kohlistiano) March 1, 2023
India were also a bit awry with their lines and lengths to Khawaja and Labuschagne as the pair built a second-wicket partnership of 96 (198). Jadeja himself had bowled Labuschagne for a duck, but had overstepped.
Jadeja later stepped up his bowling and dismissed both the set batters. However, their partnership ensured that Australia attained parity before ending the day with a lead of 47 runs. Jadeja took all the 4 Australian wickets to fall.
Earlier in the day, it was left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann who registered his maiden Test five-wicket haul – stunning figures of 5/16 in 9 overs – and Nathan Lyon took 3 wickets and Todd Murphy dismissed Kohli, who was India’s top scorer with 22 runs.
Usman Khawaja scored 60 (147) and was by far the best batsman on the raging turner in Indore.
India currently lead the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-0 and will aim to seal the series in Indore and the WTC final spot. But after the first day’s play, it is Australia who have an upper hand. Australia will, too, book their place in the WTC final if they win any of the remaining two Tests in this series.
