‘Cheater’ Ravindra Jadeja blasted for committing major ‘fraud’

Comeback man Ravindra Jadeja was labeled a cheater and a fraud after the Australian press accused him of tampering with the ball on Day 1 of the first Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy between Australia and India in Nagpur on Thursday.

According to multiple Australian media outlets, Team India allrounder Ravindra Jadeja and fast bowler Mohammed Siraj were caught in a controversial moment, with video footage suggesting the duo was engaged in some form of ball-tampering at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium.

The row began after a video generated immense interest on Twitter. The viral clip featuring Mohammed Siraj and Ravindra Jadeja even saw ex-Australia skipper Tim Paine reacting to it.

The incident happened when the Pat Cummins-led side was in deep trouble, with the score reading 120/5. Alex Carey and Peter Handscomb were at the crease when television cameras captured the Indian pair together, with videos showing that some substance changed hands between them. However, there was no clarity on what it was. Subsequently, Ravindra Jadeja rubbed his spinning finger and got on with the job of bowling overs.

An Australian cricket supporter posted the footage on the microblogging platform, tagging Tim Paine, urging the former wicketkeeper batter to share his opinion on the matter. Moments later, Tim Paine gave a one-word reply to the tweet, writing back “interesting”.

Fox Sports, one of the most prominent media outlets in Australia, dubbed the whole episode “questionable”. Meanwhile, reports in the Indian media suggested that Team India responded to the wild allegations, categorically denying any foul play on their part.

The Indian cricket team said that Mohammed Siraj handed over an ointment to Ravindra Jadeja to apply on his spinning arm as the fingers swell when the slow bowlers deliver a lot of overs in red-ball cricket. In the Saurashtra-born cricketer’s case, he bowled 22 overs during Day 1 of the Nagpur Test.

The bizarre Australian claim came after Ravindra Jadeja made a grand return to action after a five-month injury-induced layoff.

Playing for India for the first time since September 2022, when he suffered a knee injury before undergoing surgery and beginning a long rehab period, Ravindra Jadeja was on the money from ball one, finding enough turn, loop, and bounce to trouble the Australian batters on a dry wicket in Vidarbha.

With former Australian cricketers like Ian Healy putting juice in the series much before it kickstarted in the ‘City of Oranges’ with his remarks about “unfair” pitches in India, the first day in Nagpur lived up to its billing.

While Team India pacers, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami, started the Australian collapse with wickets of their openers, Usman Khawaja and David Warner, it was Ravindra Jadeja who turned out to be the hero of Day 1, picking a five-wicket haul for just 47 runs. It was the 11th occasion when Ravindra Jadeja had taken a fifer in Test cricket and the 4th time against the Kangaroos.

The other man to help Ravindra Jadeja dismantle the Australian batting line-up was his spin mate Ravichandran Ashwin who took 3/42 to put India on top on the first day of the series. Ravichandran’s three wickets also included his 450th scalp, making him the quickest Indian to do so in 89 Tests, ahead of the legendary Anil Kumble.

Despite Ravichandran Ashwin’s massive feat, Ravindra Jadeja was the one who stole the limelight at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium because he never looked rusty despite not having played any form of international cricket for more than five months.

Instead, Ravindra Jadeja seemed to be enjoying his cricket out there in the middle and looked to be one bowler to take wickets every over.

He got his rewards in the form of big wickets of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith. The two batters were sent back to the pavilion by a peach of delivery each from Jadeja. If Marnus Labuschagne was stumped after the Saurashtra-born left-arm spinner brought him out of the crease, Steve Smith lost his stumps after the ball straightened from the middle stump.

After stumps, an ecstatic Ravindra Jadeja revealed the reasons behind his exemplary display on Day 1.

“Some balls were turning, and they [Labuschagne and Smith] were searching for runs,” he said. “It wasn’t easy to score singles and keep rotating strike. If you kept bowling in good areas, the batsmen will look to try something different – these two are busy batsmen, they look to score runs.”

“When their partnership got going, I felt I had to bowl as many dot balls as possible, because there wasn’t a lot of help from the wicket – it wasn’t spinning consistently. I just looked to bowl on a good line and length,” Ravindra Jadeja added.

“Absolutely, I was using the crease because not every ball was turning, and there wasn’t that much bounce in the wicket. So just to create some doubt in the batsman’s mind I went wide of the crease, and every now and then close to the stumps. I was mixing it up, and if they step out and the ball turns, a chance could be created, and luckily that’s what happened – he stepped out and that ball happened to turn,” the India allrounder explained.

“From the same spot the ball went straight to Smith,” Ravindra Jadeja noted, later. “So the natural variation happened, but I kept trying to mix up the angles to create doubt in the batsman’s mind.”