“Dinesh Karthik had tweeted before the match, ‘Waiting for a great day for Ravindra Jadeja’ – and the match indeed turned out to be just that. On Sunday, this spinner took three wickets against Australia.
Among these three wickets, two were Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne. Alex Carey was the third wicket. These three wickets had a significant impact on the match. However, Jadeja’s dismissal of Smith had an extra edge – Australian batsman Smith struggled against spinners! This led to some amusing banter on Star Sports, where former Indian cricketer Robbie Shastri had some fun.
In the last Sunday’s match, India defeated Australia by stopping them at 199 runs with spin. Australia, with two wickets, scored 110 runs, but they lost by 119 runs, losing 5 wickets. Smith, Labuschagne, and Carey were all out. Labuschagne went out trying to play a big shot. However, the way Smith got out, there wasn’t much he could do. A ball turned from the middle stump and landed off the off stump. This way, he scored 46 runs off 71 balls in his innings.
In international cricket, Smith has been dismissed by Jadeja 11 times so far. On Star Sports, Shastri said, ‘Jadeja has dismissed Smith 10-12 times. Smith is his “bunny.” The speed at which Jadeja bowls makes it difficult to play this kind of ball. As a batsman, you don’t know which ball will turn and which one will go straight. Jadeja himself admitted in an interview that he doesn’t know which one will turn and which one will go straight when he bowls. So when Jadeja himself doesn’t know, how will the batsman know!’
Smith has been dismissed more times by an English pacer than in international cricket, only by Stuart Broad. Smith was dismissed 14 times by an English pacer’s ball. India’s second match in the World Cup is tomorrow, against Afghanistan. Australia will play their second match on October 12, against South Africa.”
