Ravindra Jadeja continued his brilliant run of form in the first Test match between India and Australia in Nagpur as the all-rounder slammed a brilliant half century on Friday. Jadeja was the wrecker-in-chief for the hosts on Day 1 with a five-wicket haul and with the fifty, he surpassed India legend Kapil Dev to claim a massive record. This was the fifth time that Jadeja took five wickets and scored a fifty in a Test match and that took him to the top of the list of Indian players with a similar milestone to their names with Kapil achieving the feat four times in his career. Rohit Sharma‘s ton and unbeaten half-centuries from Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel helped India notch up 321 runs at the loss of seven wickets at stumps on the second day of the first Test against Australia in Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium here on Friday. Resuming post Tea session at 226/5 India lost the prized wicket of captain Rohit Sharma as he was cleaned up by Aussie captain Pat Cummins for 120. India lost their sixth wicket with 229 runs on the board. Debutant KS Bharat joined Ravindra Jadeja at the crease but he was dismissed by another debutant Todd Murphy for eight and the hosts lost their seventh wicket for 240 runs. Debutant Murphy notched up his five-wicket haul. Axar Patel then joined Jadeja at the crease and the duo took the team’s total beyond 250-run mark. Comeback man Jadeja also notched up his half-century. Jadeja-Patel pair helped India extend their lead beyond 100-run mark as India took their score to 277. The duo also took their partnership beyond 50-run mark. India got to 300-run mark adding more pressure on Australia. Axar went on to score a half-century and India ended the day with 321 runs for 7 wickets taking a 144 run lead. Earlier in the day, in the 32nd over of the innings, Rohit slammed Australia skipper Pat Cummins for a six on the last delivery taking India’s total beyond the 100-run mark. Scott Boland started building the pressure from his end as he conceded no run in the 38th over of the innings. Todd Murphy then gave India a big blow as he dismissed Ashwin for 23 of 62 deliveries. The right-handed batter Cheteshwar Pujara came out to bat and slammed Murphy for an excellent four. Rohit started the 43rd over of the innings with a beautiful six through midwicket on Murphy’s delivery. Murphy continued his brilliant form as he gave another blow to India, removing Pujara for 7 in the 45th over of the game. At this point India trailed by 42 runs. Virat Kohli came out to bat at the crease. At lunch, the duo of Virat and Rohit took the team’s total to 151 with a three-wicket loss. At the time of Tea, India’s score read 226/5 in 80 overs with Rohit Sharma leading Team India from the front with a magnificent century while Ravindra Jadeja (34) was unbeaten at the crease. Resuming the post-lunch session at a score of 151/3, India got off to a bad start. Todd Murphy hit the deck hard and provided his team with a massive breakthrough on the first ball after the lunch break as he removed Virat Kohli for 12. Debutant Murphy bagged his fourth wicket. The right-handed batter and debutant Suryakumar Yadav then came out to bat at the crease. Suryakumar brought out the sweep shot against Murphy to send the ball to the backward square leg region for a four. Rohit Sharma kept holding one end tight and scored boundaries regularly. Nathan Lyon then joined the wicket-taking party as he bowled a stunner to dismiss debutant Suryakumar for 8 runs, leaving India in a vulnerable position of 168/5 in the 60th over of the game. With this wicket, Lyon brought Australia back into the game. India’s star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja then walked out to bat. With a solid four over the in-field, Rohit brought up his much-needed century in testing conditions in 171 deliveries. This was the 9th Test hundred for the India skipper. The duo of Jadeja and Rohit slammed Australian bowlers all around the ground while bagging singles at regular intervals to keep India in command. The star all-rounder and India skipper stitched up the much-needed partnership of 55 off 107 deliveries in the 77th over of the game. India’s lead started to grow gradually as Rohit and Jadeja guided India to 49 runs lead over the visitors at the time of tea. (With PTI inputs)
