A Look At India's DRS' Blunders In Indore Test: How Ravindra Jadeja's Desperation Led To Hosts Losing All Reviews On Day 1

Ravindra Jadeja finished with four wickets but the opening day of the third Test against Australia also included his poor batting, series of front-foot no-balls as well as desperation to take wrong reviews

Source: Twitter

The opening day of the third Test at Indore between India and Australia was possible the worst day for the home side. After winning the toss, India opted to bat and were bundled out for just 109 courtesy a five-wicket haul by Matthew Kuhnemann and some very poor batting by Rohit Sharma and Co. Australia finished Day 1 on top with a first innings lead of 47 runs over India with Peter Handscomb and Cameron Green in the middle. India did not have a bad day just with bat in hand but made silly errors in the field as well. That includes bowling poor lengths at the start of the innings to bowling front-foot no-balls to making mockery of themselves in DRS' use. 

Ravindra Jadeja was at the centre of everything. He picked up all four wickets for India on Day 1. But he was also the reason India lost all 3 reviews. His desperation for wickets ensured India took three bad reviews. 

The first one was taken in the 6th over against Khawaja. Jadeja bowled a quicker one that stayed low and hit Khawaja on his boots. Umpire turned it down but Jadeja insisted his captain Rohit Sharma to go upstairs. Rohit let his bowler has his say and it turned out to be a bad one as the ball was pitching outside leg.    

Australia take a valuable lead on day one of the Indore Test _#WTC23 | #INDvAUS | _: https://t.co/MFbjU9frC0 pic.twitter.com/qiDTWQMnHD

— ICC (@ICC) March 1, 2023

The second instance happened in the 10th over and this time too it was Khawaja on the receiving end. This was the worst of the reviews as thE ball struck low on Khawaja's pads, was clearly missing the stumps. Jadeja was too eager and captain Rohit seemed desperate to break the partnership too. India eventually lost the 2nd review. 

In the next over, Ashwin struck Marnus Labuschagne on the pads and keeper KS Bharat wanted him to go upstairs but with two reviews lost, Rohit did not go for it. The replays then showed on the big screen at the ground that the ball would have crashed into stumps. Rohit had a wry smile on his face as he erred by not taking the DRS at the right moment. 

The third review was lost in the 45th over when Jadeja stuck Steve Smith on his pads. That too was easily going down leg but Jadeja insisted Rohit to take it and the captain shockingly agreed again. The ball tracker suggested it would have easily missed the stumps and India lost their third review too. These 3 reviews added to India's terrible day in office where they were poor in all three departments. 

Jadeja somewhat saved the day with four wickets. Otherwise, with poor display of batting, bowling and DRS calls, the match could have completely slipped off India's hands.