"There you are in the rush to get the landmark" - Sunil Gavaskar on Ravindra Jadeja's dismissal in WTC final
Former India international Sunil Gavaskar said that all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was in a rush to complete his half-century, which led to his dismissal against Australia on Day 2 of the World Test Championship final at The Oval.
Australia reduced India to 151/5 by the stumps on the second day in response to their huge score of 469 in the first innings. Each of their five bowlers, including off-spinner Nathan Lyon, managed to find a wicket on the Oval pitch that generated a significant amount of uneven bounce.
Jadeja was the top-scorer for India on a day the big guns crumbled under pressure. The southpaw scored 48 runs in 51 balls and stitched 71 runs along with Ajinkya Rahane to resurrect the Indian innings.
Nathan Lyon ended Jadeja's resilience as the left-handed batter pushed forward to defend with hard hands. The ball turned with the extra bounce to induce an outside edge off Jadeja's bat and Steve Smith pouched it at first slip.
Speaking to Sports Today about Jadeja's dismissal, Sunil Gavaskar said:
"He could have not been looking at his call. Batting on 48, (could have) looking to play at the delivery to get two runs so maybe a single. This is one of the reasons I do believe that at the Test level, you keep a fair idea what your score is but not exactly how many you are."
He added:
"There you are in the rush to get the landmark… 100 or 50. It was a good delivery but you see that he has pushed out at the delivery and so he's got out."
"When he started it was quite refreshing to see" - Sunil Gavaskar on Rohit Sharma
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma started the Indian innings with a couple of delightful strokes against Mitchell Starc. He decided to counter the swing with an aggressive approach.
Australia skipper Pat Cummins then pitched at fuller length as the ball angled in and struck his Indian counterpart in front of the wickets, leading to Sharma's dismissal for 15 runs.
Explaining the Indian skipper's technique while attacking, Sunil Gavaskar said:
"When he started it was quite refreshing to see when he was playing those drives. Normally he takes a couple of overs before his foot starts to move to the front foot and starts to move towards the ball. But in this instance it was moving. When he got out, he again got stuck in the crease. And then looked to play across the line and got out a little bit."
India trail by 318 runs of Australia's first innings total with Ajinkya Rahane (29*) and Srikar Bharat (5*) to resume their innings on Day 3.