‘I think he could very well be the leading wicket-taker in the India series’ – Ricky Ponting makes stunning statement on India bowling star
India hammered Australia at Nagpur by beating them by a big margin of an inning and 132 runs. The Indians dismissed Australia for 177 in the first innings on the back of Ravindra Jadeja’s five-wicket haul and Ravichandran Ashwin’s three-wicket haul in the first innings. After getting a 223-run lead in the first innings, India bundled out the Aussies for 91 in the second innings.
Ricky Ponting has made a big claim on Jadeja after the game where he shone with both bat and ball. The former said that Jadeja will be the highest wicket-taker in this Test series. With the ball, Jadeja picked up seven wickets in the match, and then with the bat in the first innings he made a stellar 70 off 165 balls with nine fours. The left-hander was the big difference in the first innings for India and contributed in the second innings as well.
I knew the Aussies were in for a nightmare – Ricky Ponting
“I had seen his return to first-class cricket last week and he got some 11 wickets or something. As soon as I saw that I knew Aussies were in for a nightmare,” Ponting said on the review show. Jadeja revealed in an interview during the match that he bowled 12-13 overs a day to get back into bowling rhythm and also picked up a seven-wicket haul against Tamil Nadu in a Ranji game so he was in good form coming into the series.
“Because of how he (Jadeja) bowls on those sort of wickets – the pace that he bowls, the line that he bowls to right-handers in particular, where he is pitching the ball on the stumps all the time, and one would turn and one will slide on, like we saw, with the dismissal of Steven Smith today. I mean they’re two identical deliveries. One just happened to turn and the other one went straight on and went back through the gate and bowled him,” Ponting added.
India got their third-biggest win in terms of innings at Nagpur. Australia was no match for the Indian spin trio of Ashwin, Jadeja, and Axar Patel. The Australians hired the services of Baroda-based off-spinner Mahesh Pithiya who had modeled his bowling action on similar lines as Ashwin, but the India veteran spinner changed his action and beat the Australians at his own game.
