India's spinners ruled the roost on Day one of the first Test against Australia at Nagpur on Thursday. The duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin shared eight wickets between themselves as the visitors were bowled out for 177 runs in the first innings. The other two wickets went to pacers Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami.
In a sensational comeback to international cricket since his knee injury, Jadeja achieved figures of 5/47 in his spell. After Australia's openers were scalped by Siraj and Shami, the pair of Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith stitched a 82-run partnership to bail their team out of a sticky situation. But Jadeja dismissed both of them and also got rid of Matt Renshaw for a golden duck, to reduce the visitors to 109/5. Ashwin and Jadeja then ran through the lower middle order and tail-enders to skittle Australia under 200 and put India into the driver's seat. Labuschagne scored 49 runs to emerge as the highest run-getter for the Pat Cummins-led side.
Jadeja's surreal performance was hailed by several former cricketers who took to social media to appreciate the India all-rounder. Lauding him on Twitter, former India cricket Mohammad Kaif wrote "Never easy to return to top level cricket after an injury. Not if you are Sir jadeja. He is deadly! #INDvsAUS".
{{/usCountry}}Jadeja's surreal performance was hailed by several former cricketers who took to social media to appreciate the India all-rounder. Lauding him on Twitter, former India cricket Mohammad Kaif wrote "Never easy to return to top level cricket after an injury. Not if you are Sir jadeja. He is deadly! #INDvsAUS".
{{/usCountry}}Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan posted "Brilliant from Ravindra Jadeja. Keeps bowling in the stumps.#INDvsAUS".
Ex-India all-rounder Suresh Raina was also all praise for Jadeja and he tweeted "What a brilliant comeback by @imjadeja🙌Working like a magician always, congratulations on the 5 wicket haul champion! 🔥💯#INDvsAUS."
Meanwhile, Ashwin crossed 450 wickets in Test cricket after he dismissed Alex Carey. Having achieved the milestone in his 89th Test, he became the fastest Indian bowler to get there. In the world, he is at the second spot only behind Sri Lanka legend Muttiah Muralitharan, who had taken just 80 Tests for 450 wickets.