Ravindra Jadeja‘s comeback after a protracted damage layoff is getting higher by the day. The left-arm spinner returned with career-best figures of seven/42 within the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to steer Australia’s hammering by six wickets inside three days on Sunday to carry the hosts to a 2-0 Test sequence lead. Jadeja teamed up with fellow spinner Ravichandran Ashwin to dismiss Australia for 113 in a morning session when the vacationers’ batting imploded, because of an overused sweep shot on a tough New Delhi pitch.

Jadeja bowled 12.1 overs and took seven wickets within the second innings on Sunday. Ashwin bowled 16 overs and took three wickets. The duo’s dominance meant that the third Indian spinner Axar Patel bowled just one over. After the match ended, Axar had a enjoyable chat with Jadeja relating to that.

“Sir, I am not getting the chance to bowl. You don’t want me to bowl or what? Is that the reason why you are bowling so well?” Axar Patel instructed Ravindra Jadeja in a video posted on bcci.tv, because the duo broke into laughter.

“If the wicket is like this in India, it feels good. A spinner’s role and responsibility increase. Their batting is such that they prefer sweep and reverse-sweep. So, I tried to bowl at the stumps. If they missed it, the deliveries which would stay low would hit the stumps. Luckily, that happened today. In five of the dismissals, we heard a good sound of the ball hitting the stumps.”

The hosts romped to their victory goal of 115 within the second session to ensure them the retention of the Border-Gavaskar trophy within the four-match sequence.

They have received their earlier three sequence in opposition to Australia and are actually near securing a spot within the World Test Championship remaining.

With AFP inputs

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