Ravindra Jadeja made a triumphant return to the Indian cricket team after a five-month absence, earning the Player of the Match award in the first Test against Australia in Nagpur. He delivered a nearly flawless performance, taking five wickets with the ball and scoring 70 crucial runs in the first innings.
An all-round match-winning performance to mark a memorable return! __@imjadeja becomes the Player of the Match as #TeamIndia win by an innings & 132 runs __
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 11, 2023
Scorecard __ https://t.co/SwTGoyHfZx_#INDvAUS | @mastercardindia pic.twitter.com/VBGfjqB4dZ
Following the match, Jadeja responded to Australia's complaints about the pitch, suggesting that they had already formed opinions about the playing surface before they even arrived in India. He also questioned why there was a problem with India playing to their strengths.
"I feel they were seeing the rough from the moment they sat on the flight. The atmosphere they created that it would spin; it didn't spin that much. If we see, they got out more to straight balls. We also got out lbw on straight balls," said Jadeja to Star Sports.
"This is bound to happen in India because we will obviously play to our team's strength. Our fast bowlers are also good, but spinners win more matches in India and pick up wickets, so why shouldn't we go with our strength," he added.
This was Jadeja's first international game since the 2022 Asia Cup. He missed the 2022 T20 World Cup due to a knee injury that required surgery. In his comeback match in the Ranji Trophy between Saurashtra and Tamil Nadu in January, he took an impressive 7 wickets in Chennai. In addition to Jadeja's all-round brilliance, India's convincing win over Australia was also due to contributions from Rohit Sharma's century, Axar Patel's 84 runs, and Ravichandran Ashwin's five-wicket haul.
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