(Image source: X.com)
[Saba Sports News] India put on a great bowling display against Australia in the ongoing match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. The fixture is being played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, which usually favours spinners, and it behaved the same in the first innings.
Pat Cummins, leading Australia, won the toss and elected to bat first, keeping in mind that the pitch might slow down with the progression of the match. While batting first, the Aussies somehow managed to reach a score of were 199 in 49.3 overs. Australian batters disappointed as they failed to apply themselves.
Mitchell Marsh got out in the second over bowled by Jasprit Bumrah. His dismissal was followed by a fine 69-run partnership between David Warner and Steve Smith. Left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav removed Warner, who had started to look threatening.
Another good partnership was building up between Marnus Labuschagne and Smith, but the man of the moment, Ravindra Jadeja, cleaned up Australia’s number three with a peach of a delivery. In his very next over, Jadeja struck again, taking the wickets of Labuschagne and Alex Carey.
After his impressive performance, Jadeja, who plays for the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League, acknowledged the advantage he had due to familiar bowling conditions.
“I play for CSK so I know the conditions here, when I saw the pitch I thought I should get 2-3 wickets, luckily I got 3 wickets and am very happy. I was looking to bowl into the stumps and there was turn, you never know which one is going straight and which one is turning, the odd ball was turning and I was just mixing the pace,” Jadeja said in the mid-innings interview.
The 34-year-old all-rounder ended his spell with bowling figures of 10-2-28-3 with an economy rate of 2.8. With this, he became the second Indian spinner after Maninder Singh to register a three-for against Australia in an ODI World Cup.