When you travel to India ‘you have to play spin very well’

Ravindra Jadeja stole the show on the opening day of the Border-Gavaskar trophy with a superb five-wicket haul as India bowled Australia out for just 177.

Jadeja’s brilliant return to Test cricket after a five-month absence saw him finish with figures of 5/47, with the left-arm spinner dismissing four of Australia’s top six, including the crucial scalps of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith. Australia had arrived in India fully prepared for a trial by spin, with the home side naming three front-line spinners in their XI as expected.

But Jadeja said that sometimes days go that way when batters face the turning ball. “When you travel to India you have to play spin very well, that is what your first priority is,” the 34-year-old said. “Whenever a team comes to India they always prepare for spinning (conditions). Sometimes you don’t get away with it – it’s a part of the game.

Australian debutant Todd Murphy also got amongst the wickets, taking his first Test wicket when he tossed up an off-break that caught the leading edge of KL Rahul’s bat to offer up a return catch. Rahul was the only Indian wicket to fall on the day as they closed on 77/1, exactly 100 runs behind. And Jadeja says that patience and frequent changes of angle and approach will be crucial for each of the five front-line spinners on show in the remainder of the Test.

“I think their spinner also bowled well. It’s a matter of time, you have to keep bowling, it’s not like you just keep bowling and you’ll get wickets in every over. It’s patience. “You have to keep changing, over the wicket, around the wicket, when partnerships are going on you have to mix it up. I think they also tried that. You have to just keep bowling in good areas.”

The opening Test of the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series continues on Friday, with India captain Rohit Sharma to resume out in the middle on 56* alongside nightwatchman Ravichandran Ashwin.