Last Updated: February 11, 2023, 16:28 IST
Rohit Sharma scored 120 in India’s innings – the only century of the match from either side. (AP Photo)
Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin picked up 15 wickets between them during the Test to guide India to a big win over Australia
In just 195 deliveries, Australia collapsed to what would be counted among their worst Test batting performances with India storming to an innings win in Nagpur on Saturday afternoon.
Sample this: India captain Rohit Sharma alone faced 212 deliveries while Ravindra Jadeja consumed 185 deliveries and Axar Patel 174 deliveries.
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And India’s 400-all out came against some quality offspin bowling of debutant Todd Murphy. In a stark contrast, Australia first surrendered to Jadeja in their first dig when they managed 177 and then succumbed to the guile of Ashwin in their next to be skittled for 91 in 32.3 overs – inside one session of the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023.
Even India captain Rohit was surprised by their opponent’s abject display.
“We were prepared for hard days of bowling, spent session after session. Did not expect they will be bowled out in one session. The pitch was slowing down also, so was not expected,” Rohit said during an interaction with the media on Saturday.
Rohit was all praise for his spin trio of Ashwin, Jadeja and Axar Patel.
“Captaining Jadeja, Ashwin & Axar is like captaining (Pat) Cummins, (Mitchell) Starc and (Josh) Hazelwood in Australia. Very blessed to have these bunch, but conditions are there for everyone,” Rohit said.
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Ahead of the start of the tour, the talks circled around the pitch and how it would benefit the Indian team more. The likes of Ian Healy even claimed that should India not prepare ‘unfair’ pitches, Australia will have a chance to beat them this time around.
Rohit insisted that inside the Indian dressing room, they are only concerned about the game and not worried about how the pitch may or may not play.
“We are the ones wanting to play on pitches like this. We don’t look at what opposition brings to the table. There is no talk about pitches in the changing room. We look at the game & see how to bowl & bat in it,” Rohit said.
On a pitch where Marnus Labuschagne’s 49 in the first innings was the most that an Aussie batter managed during the Nagpur Test, India captain Rohit peeled off a sparkling century – 120 off 212.
When asked if he would rate his knock ahead of his effort in the 2nd Test against England in Chennai (2020), Rohit replied, “Not much into rating my knocks. In Chennai, we were one Test down & had to win the 2nd, so much pressure to do things right. That was Chennai. The bowlers Australia had here (Nagpur) was different.”
Ashwin picked up his 31st five-wicket haul in Test cricket to trigger Australia’s batting collapse in the second dig and finished with figures of 5/37.
“Ashwin has played so much cricket in India, lot of overs have gone into his skills — you need this experience to do well in such conditions. The guy has got everything in terms of variations,” Rohit said.
India may have dominated in Nagpur but they expect Australia, world’s top-ranked Test team, to come back strongly in the second Test which will be held in Delhi.
“We do not think of things in from past. We live in the present. But Australia love playing Test cricket, they pride themselves in representing their country & we are aware that they can bounce back, we are not ruling them out or anything,” he said.
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