Ravindra Jadeja and Ravi Ashwin. (Photo Source: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
After the fourth Test between India and Australia ended in a draw, the hosts successfully retained the Border Gavaskar Trophy by winning the series 2-1. India had been into the game with a clear intention of winning it, as skipper Rohit Sharma showcased his prowess and hit a century in the first Test in Nagpur. The series then witnessed Ravindra Jadeja putting up match-winning performances with the bat and the ball, which helped India win the first two games.
Though India were handed a setback when they lost the third game, the fourth game witnessed a total of four players smashing centuries. After Usman Khawaja and Cameron Green notched up centuries for Australia in the first innings, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli hit centuries in the second innings which helped India end the game in a draw.
But one of the key reasons behind India’s victory in the first two games was India’s spin bowling unit, which consisted of Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Axar Patel. The task was majorly handled by Jadeja and Ashwin as they wreaked havoc with the ball and kept picking up wickets at regular intervals to dismantle Australia’s batting order.
The Indian captain offered a pretty direct remark when asked about the duo’s future during the post-match press conference on Monday. Nonetheless, he didn’t hold back in showering the two with praise, referring to them as one of the team’s greatest assets in the last ten years.
“Honestly if they’ll be around, I don’t know, I’ll be around (laughs). But four years is a long time. I mean for the sake of Indian cricket, I hope they stay and they play a lot of cricket for India. Both of them are marathon players for us. They know exactly how to get the job done. Especially in this part of the world, you give them the ball, they get you those breakthroughs. With the bat they get you crucial runs. Very, very important players for us,” said Rohit.
Where we stand today, in terms of how we performed, a lot of credit goes to them: Rohit
Though the venues kept changing, Ashwin and Jadeja’s domination persisted, but the Ahmedabad pitch did no good for the bowlers as the batters made the most of the belter track. Nevertheless, Jadeja and Ashwin took 47 wickets together during the four-match series, which led them to the duo sharing the Player of the Series award. Rohit also stated that the two all-rounders are one of the major reasons behind India’s success over the last decade.
“Where we stand today, in terms of how we performed especially in Indian conditions, a lot of credit goes to them. A large part of our success belongs to those two guys. Obviously, you know it’s not just for the period of a few years, it’s over a decade now. So it’s a long, long time to keep performing in the way these two guys have done for us,” he added.
“And I can only hope that they continue to play as long as possible because those shoes will definitely be very, very big ones to fill. So, I hope for the sake of Indian cricket they continue as long as they can,” he concluded.
For a better experience: Download the CricTracker app from the IOS App Store and Google Play Store