Ravindra Jadeja ran through the Australian batting line-up in the second innings in Delhi.
The all-rounder was Player-of-the-Match in India’s opening Test win in Nagpur last week and he continued his brilliance in the second Test as well.
After the close of play on Day 2 in Delhi, the visitors were in a position of strength with a second-innings score of 61/1 and an overall lead of 62 runs. However, Jadeja spun a web around Australia with the ball in the first session on the third day, returning with a seven-wicket haul to bundle out the tourists for a paltry 113.
Following the game, Ravindra Jadeja interacted with Akshar Patel for bcci.tv and reflected on his second-innings spell.
“When you get wickets like this in India, it’s obviously good. The role and responsibility of a spinner get elevated. I try to bowl in the stump line since most of their (Australia) batters try to play sweep and reverse sweep shots. If they miss, the ball that stays low will hit the stumps. Luckily, that’s what happened today. Paanch baar stump ki aawaz aayi hai jor jor se (The sound of stumps crashing reverberated five times),” Jadeja, who won the second consecutive Player-of-the-Match award, stated.
While the duo of Jadeja and R Ashwin have taken 31 of Australia’s 40 scalps across the two Tests, wickets and overs haven’t come as regularly for the third spinner Akshar Patel.
“Sir, meri toh bowling aa nahi rhi. Are you bowling this way so that I don’t get overs,” Akshar quipped, before he asked Jadeja about his 55-run partnership with Virat Kohli in India’s first innings on Day 2.
“At that time the situation was a little tough. Four wickets had fallen quickly, inside three-four overs,” Jadeja said. “So the plan was to stay in the middle for some time and build a partnership. On this wicket, a good ball could come at you anytime. But I tried to trust myself and play with the bat in front of pad as much as possible. Virat and I were talking to play as straight as possible because the ball wasn’t bouncing a lot. It was keeping low a little.”
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 also marked Ravindra Jadeja’s return to international cricketer after a lengthy injury hiatus. The all-rounder underwent knee surgery and then an extended rehabilitation in September last year.
Akshar enquired Jadeja, “Aap 6 mahine break pe the toh yehi soch rhe the kya jaate hi sb kuch wasool krna hai, Gujarati dimaag yahi dauda rhe the kya? (You were out of action for six months, were you thinking of making up for it as soon as you return).”
To which, Jadeja replied: “I actually missed a lot of cricket. The World Cup, a lot of bilaterals. Hopefully, it keeps going like this going forward and Ashwin, you and I keep winning India matches.”
After playing a valuable knock of 84 in India’s only innings in Nagpur, Akshar Patel produced another crucial knock of 74 when the hosts were reeling at 139/7 in the first innings of the second Test.
“You’re not getting to bowl but when you go out to bat, it doesn’t seem like you’ll get dismissed. It feels like you’re batting on a different surface, it doesn’t feel like we’re batting on turning track or low bounce pitch. Their bowlers look ordinary,” Jadeja said in praise of Akshar’s batting.
To which, Patel replied, “Last time, you’d told me that they were looking to hit our pads, so I was trying to defend that. Whenever I go, I think of hitting the ball that comes in my slot and defend the good deliveries. They had a left arm spinner in this match. It felt like we were facing off spin for a long time. So when a left armer comes it feels different owing to an incoming delivery.”
“Sweep and reverse sweeps are hard to execute. So it’s just as you said, I’m taking my bat forward so that the ball doesn’t hit my pads. I play on the merit of the ball,” he further added.