India vs Australia: ‘His progress has been terrific’ Gavaskar praises Jadeja

Ind vs Aus: In Melbourne, Ravindra Jadeja picked up three wickets and scored a highly important half-century and has continued to impress here in Sydney too.

Day 2 of the third Test between India and Australia was another example as to why Ravindra Jadeja is a must in India’s Test Playing XI. For long, the all-rounder was used as a replacement for players in the line-up but based on his recent performance, Jadeja, more often than not, proves to be an asset and manages to bail India out of trouble. In Melbourne, he picked up three wickets and scored a highly important half-century and has continued to impress here in Sydney too.

Ravindra Jadeja in action during the third Test against Australia in Sydney. (BCCI/Twitter)

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On Friday, as Australia resumed on their overnight score of 166/2, it was Jadeja who provided India the breakthrough by dismissing Marnus Labuschagne and followed it with the wicket of Matthew Wade. Post lunch, Jadeja was back in action ensuring that the Australian tail did not wag. With Jasprit Bumrah getting India two quick wickets after the session interval, Jadeja added two more wicket, yorking out Pat Cummins and having Nathan Lyon out LBW for a duck. He finished with 4/62 and even affected the run out of the one Steve Smith, who contributed with 131 runs out of Australia’s total of 338.

Jadeja’s rise as an all-rounder has impressed many, the recent being former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, who called the all-rounder’s progress ‘terrific.’

Immediately after the Australian innings ended, Jadeja spoke about the plan he stuck to and why. “The wicket was pretty flat and slow so I was trying to bowl on the stumps. The ball wasn’t doing much so tried to keep it tight and not leak the runs from my end because Bumrah and other fast bowlers were bowling well,” he said.

“I think they have batted really well. We have to capitalize on the time we have in the middle. I’ll say don’t worry about the total and keep batting for four to five sessions.”