Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Ravindra Jadeja returns with high five!

India’s Ravindra Jadeja celebrates his fifth Australian wicket in Nagpur yesterday. Pic/AFP

When India were playing their previous Test series away from home against Bangladesh in December last year, Ravindra Jadeja was recovering from a knee surgery he had to undergo after suffering a freak during the country's Asia Cup T20 campaign in the United Arab Emirates.

Out with a doubt

The 34-year-old left handed all-rounder from Saurashtra, who had by then become an integral part of Team India across all formats, must've been left wondering when he'd be back to full match fitness.

Any doubts of his successful comeback to international cricket were confined to scrapheap in emphatic style at Jamtha's Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium here on Thursday when he grabbed a fifer, his ninth in his 61st Test.

Jadeja's brilliant five for 47 along with his long-time comrade-in-arm Ravichandran Ashwin's three for 42 after two early strikes by seamers Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj, sent Australia tumbling to 177 all out in just under 64 overs soon after tea on Day 1 of the four-Test rubber.

Jadeja played a pivotal role with his left arm orthodox slows when Australia were recovering from a shock start of two for the loss of openers Usman Khawaja and David Warner in 13 balls. Jadeja's twin strike in as many balls when he dismissed the well-set Marnus Labuschagne (49) and Matt Renshaw, for a duck, off successive balls in the 36th over put India back on top. And when he later deceived and clean bowled India's long-term nemesis Steve Smith (37) soon afterwards, for the fifth time in his career, it was celebration time for the hosts as well as the bowler, who once again showed how crucial his presence is in the Test squad.

Incidentally Jadeja, who now has 247 wickets in 61 Tests, had won the Man of the Match award for his all-round show (63 runs with the bat and four wickets) in 2016-17 at Dharamsala in the deciding fourth and final Test of the previous series fought between these two rivals in India. In that series, the last one between these two sides on Indian soil won by the hosts 2-1, Jadeja took 25 wickets while Ashwin claimed 21. Their combined haul today gave glimpses of what lay in store for this Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

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Jadeja relied on his pace off the pitch and accuracy with subtle variations in spin and trajectory to pick up wickets on a pitch that did not pose any demons for the Australian batsmen. And the Saurashtra all-rounder, who was previously seen in whites in the fifth and last Test of the postponed series against England at Edgbaston in July last year, took only one first-class game to get into the groove after recovering from his knee surgery when he turned up for Saurashtra in their Ranji Trophy league match at Chennai against Tamil Nadu prior to this Test.

Ranji comeback

He grabbed one wicket in his first stint with the ball on his comeback trail and then reeled in seven more in the second innings at the Chidambaram Stadium to show he was ready for the big time again. And he was, indeed, back with a bang in international cricket with a brilliant display of orthodox left-arm spin bowling to bamboozle the visitors.

09
No. of fifers India's Ravindra Jadeja has taken in 61 Tests