India allrounder Ravindra Jadeja's sensational comeback on Day 1 of the Nagpur Test against Australia became the subject of memes on social media on Thursday.

https://twitter.com/OGVK18/status/1623610898643582979

 

Playing for India for the first time since September 2022, when he suffered a knee injury before undergoing surgery and beginning a long rehab period, Ravindra Jadeja was on the money from ball one, finding enough turn, loop, and bounce to trouble the Australian batters on a dry wicket in Vidarbha.

With former Australian cricketers like Ian Healy putting juice in the series much before it kickstarted in the ‘City of Oranges' with his remarks about “unfair” pitches in India, the first day in Nagpur lived up to its billing.

While Team India pacers, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami, started the Australian collapse with wickets of their openers, Usman Khawaja and David Warner, it was Ravindra Jadeja who turned out to be the hero of Day 1, picking a five-wicket haul for just 47 runs. It was the 11th occasion when Ravindra Jadeja had taken a fifer in Test cricket and the 4th time against the Kangaroos.

The other man to help Ravindra Jadeja dismantle the Australian batting line-up was his spin mate Ravichandran Ashwin who took 3/42 to put India on top on the first day of the series. Ravichandran's three wickets also included his 450th scalp, making him the quickest Indian to do so in 89 Tests, ahead of the legendary Anil Kumble.

Despite Ravichandran Ashwin's massive feat, Ravindra Jadeja was the one who stole the limelight at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium because he never looked rusty despite not having played any form of international cricket for more than five months.

Instead, Ravindra Jadeja seemed to be enjoying his cricket out there in the middle and looked to be one bowler to take wickets every over.

He got his rewards in the form of big wickets of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith. The two batters were sent back to the pavilion by a peach of delivery each from Jadeja. If Marnus Labuschagne was stumped after the Saurashtra-born left-arm spinner brought him out of the crease, Steve Smith lost his stumps after the ball straightened from the middle stump.

After stumps, an ecstatic Ravindra Jadeja revealed the reasons behind his exemplary display on Day 1.

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“There was no bounce on the wicket, I was targeting the stump-to-stump line. The odd ball was spinning and the odd ball was going straight. Being a left-arm spinner, if you get batsmen out caught behind or stumped, you always give credit to the ball,” Ravindra Jadeja told Star Sports, the host broadcaster of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

“In Test match cricket, whatever wicket you take, you are happy with that. I was working hard on my bowling when I was in Bangalore at the NCA. I was bowling 10-12 hours everyday and that helped me a lot. I was working on my rhythm because I knew that I have to play Test match and I have to bowl long spells,” Ravindra Jadeja added.

“Very happy with the way I was bowling. I was enjoying my bowling. Playing after 5 months, playing Test cricket, it's tough. I was prepared for it and I was working hard on my fitness as well as on my skills at NCA,” the southpaw elaborated.

“I played a first-class game (Ranji) after a long time and I bowled almost 42 overs. It gave me a lot of confidence to come here and play a Test match,” Ravindra Jadeja concluded.

Meanwhile, former India opener Aakash Chopra opined that a strong performance from the Rohit Sharma-led side was a slap on the faces of all those Australians who expected that the series would be a close affair between the hosts and the visitors.

“We were made to understand that this Australia has a golden chance of beating India, that this Australia will trouble us, that this Australia will defeat us. We were made to understand that, but we didn't understand that either then or now because India are showing their dominance,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

“We lost the toss; the toss is absolutely critical in these games, but despite that, if you go ahead in the game, of course India are still 100 runs behind with nine wickets in hand, but they are not behind in the game,” he added.

“David Warner got out at the start. Usman Khawaja got out before that. Spin was playing on their minds, and fast bowlers came. The Indian team dismissed both openers quickly,” Aakash Chopra argued.

“Both Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith said that the pitch is alright and that you need to start batting properly. It was almost even-stevens at lunch time, but after that, this has happened many times in Indian cricket, and it will keep on happening – when wickets fall – they fall in clusters,” Aakash Chopra continued.

“First Marnus Labuschagne got out; what a ball from Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja), and then Renshaw was dismissed off the next ball. Smith was standing at the other end, played a few big shots against Axar Patel, but for how long?”

“When Smith got out, Carey and Handscomb were together. Handscomb was playing cautiously, and Carey was playing shot-a-ball. He got out, bowled off Ravichandran Ashwin, and after that, it was a procession of sorts,” the former India batter pointed out.