Spots outside left-handed batter’s off-stump on both ends of the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium had managed to mislead a large section of the Australian media regarding the nature of the surface for the recently concluded first Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 Test match.
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False narrative had not only been created but rolled out to an extent that perhaps even the Australian cricket team fell for it. In what started with dropping Travis Head to accommodate an additional right-handed batter, it ended with the visitors getting bundled out within a session for their lowest Test innings total (91) in India.
Australia, who succumbed to an innings defeat (fourth in seven Nagpur Tests) on Saturday, witnessed their batters falling like pack of cards as the match surprisingly got over within eight sessions.
Virender Sehwag takes a dig at Australia receiving taste of own medicine in Nagpur
While the visitors were left pondering about the above mentioned spots, India left-handed batters namely Ravindra Jadeja (70) and Axar Patel (84) scored individual half-centuries to contribute generously towards a 223-run first innings lead.
Although captain Rohit Sharma’s ninth Test century played a pivotal role in an Indian victory, it wouldn’t have been this easy for the hosts had the all-rounders not shared an 88-run partnership for the eighth wicket.
Jadeja and Patel not only put and end to conspiracy theories with respect to an intentional rough created for spinners on behest of the Indian team management to trouble the Australian lefties but also taught the opposition a lesson in playing spinners via their knocks.
Former India batter Virender Sehwag took notice of Patel’s post-match conversation with host broadcaster Star Sports Network highlighting how the pair made Australia taste their own medicine with respect to playing “mind games”. Sehwag pointed out a part of Patel’s conversation with Jadeja on Day 2 where he opined that the pitch will “play well” only till the time India bat.
There was a time Australia were way ahead of the rest in playing mind games. Now they are getting a taste of their own medicine. Brilliant from Axar Patel …isse kehte hain kehkar….
Mazaa aa gaya pic.twitter.com/FRdVmZRlZj— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) February 11, 2023
What Patel meant was that Australia would struggle to combat with himself, Jadeja and fellow all-rounder in Ravichandran Ashwin. As far as Sehwag writing “Isse kehte hain kehkar….”, its a Hindi slang used when someone dominates an opponent after predicting that domination in advance.