20 February,2023 07:31 AM IST | New Delhi | SS Ramaswamy
Ravindra Jadeja (left) celebrates the wicket of Australia’s Nathan Lyon with Rohit Sharma yesterday. Pic/AFP
The message to India's spin trio from the leadership group on Day Three of the second Test against Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on Sunday morning was to keep things simple and not complicate them by changing the field often.
And the bowlers, left-arm Ravindra Jadeja who returned career-best figures for an innings and the match, and off-spinner Ashwin, who took three wickets (third spinner Axar Patel didn't bowl on Sunday), responded brilliantly to skittle out the visitors for a meagre 113 runs in the second innings in just over 31 overs.
In fact, the visitors lost their last eight wickets in just 48 minutes before India went to lunch at 14 for one needing 115 that they reached just before the scheduled tea in 26 overs for the loss of four wickets at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Australia had taken a one-run first innings lead yesterday and then rattled the hosts' spinners with an aggressive approach by scoring 61 for one in 12 overs before stumps.
"Yesterday [Saturday] we bowled about 12-13 overs and they were 61, which is more than five and a half per over. I could see we were panicking a bit and trying to change the field many times. In the morning we just wanted to tell those three guys that we need to keep calm and there was no need to change the field as often as we did last evening. We wanted them to keep it there, keep it tight and let the batters make the mistake," said Rohit at the post-match media conference after his team's six-wicket victory.
"I could sense that they [Australians] wanted to play that way and that the wicket [pitch] was not one to come out and just play the shots. You need to find the balance and try to put them under pressure and that's what we wanted to do this morning.
"All these three guys have played a lot of cricket in these conditions. Those batters in the opposition group are quality batters. There are bound to be partnerships. It's just about absorbing pressure, keeping it there and letting the wicket do the rest - that was the talk," Rohit explained.
Ashwin took the first two wickets in the morning, those of the aggressive Travis Head and Steven Smith, before Jadeja ripped into the rest, barring Matthew Renshaw, to finish with sensational innings figures of 7-42, his career best, that included a brilliant morning spell of 6-19 in 9.1 overs. His match figures of 10 for 110 also became his career-best.
Jadeja's self confidence in his abilities, having come into the series after undergoing knee surgery last August, was singled out by Rohit.
"He has been brilliant. Comebacks are not easy. The confidence he has in his abilities is massive. You can see that on the field. There were times when he was put under pressure, but there was no sense of panic.
"Yesterday he went for more than five an over, but he knew what the batters were trying to do. He was confident that he could put them under pressure and get them out. The guy has played so much cricket and taken over 250 wickets. I just need to trust that confidence."
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Rohit also came to the defence of his under-performing deputy K L Rahul who has flopped with the bat in all four innings in the series thus far.
"Of late there has been a lot of talk about his batting. As team management, we always look at the potential of any individual. If the guy has potential he will get an extended run."
