India and Australia squared off in the first Test of the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur. The spinners dominated the proceedings in the fixture as India annihilated Australia by an innings and 132 runs.
Ravindra Jadeja (5/47) picked up a fifer in the first essay while Ravichandran Ashwin bagged his 31st five-wicket haul in Test cricket during the third innings of the match. For Australia, debutant Todd Murphy scalped 7 wickets for 124 runs.
Hence, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting did not face any difficulty in naming the bowler who will finish as the leading wicket-taker of ongoing India versus Australia series.
Speaking on the ICC Review, the Australia legend heaped praises on Team India’s comeback man, Jadeja.
“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.
“Because of how he 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 Steve Smith. 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,” said Ponting.
The 48-year-old also predicted that if Jadeja plays all four Test matches, he will be the leading wicket-taker of this series.
“As the series goes on, if his body holds up and he can get through the four Test matches, I think he could very well be the leading wicket-taker in this entire series,” added Panting.
Jadeja even smashed a brilliant half-century with the bat in his comeback game for Team India. His 70-run helped the hosts take a big lead over the touring party.
