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Ravindra Jadeja gave away 76 runs in 16 wicketless overs but India bowling coach Morne Morkel backed the all-rounder.
IND vs AUS: Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja (AP)
India bowling coach Morne Morkel supported left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, who replaced R Ashwin for this Test, despite him having a bit of rough day. Travis Head and Steve Smith put on a magnificent fourth-wicket partnership as Australia reached 405/7 in 101 overs at stumps on day two.
With rain forecast over the next three days, India seem to have virtually no chance of winning the match and can only realistically hope for a draw.
After all but 13.2 overs of the first day were washed out on Saturday, India started strongly with three wickets in the first hour.
But Head and Smith batted India out of the game despite a superb spell from pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah (5-72) after tea with the second new ball.
Jadeja gave away 76 runs in 16 wicketless overs at the ‘Gabba’.
“Jaddu, coming into this match didn’t haven’t had a lot of game time, but he’s also a guy who has taken a lot of Test wickets. He’s a very experienced player and we just felt we wanted to bring in the left-arm option as something different, you know, sitting with Rohit.”
“Jaddu is a guy that can also offer us a lot with the bat, unfortunately, today if you know it wasn’t his day as a spinner. But, yeah, Jaddu for me is a world-class player and you know he’ll work it out,” he added.
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Morkel also defended the decision to bowl first after winning the toss, saying they were confident of controlling the Aussie batters.
“I just thought, looking at the surface, if we can get the ball in the right area we can take wickets. I thought controlling the run-rate for a big part of the game and staying patient was key and if we could have added one or two wickets, winning the toss and bowling first would have worked.
“But unfortunately we are on the other side of it and we just need to take the positives out of it. So, when we do get that opportunity tomorrow it’s about getting through the new ball because I honestly feel like it’s a bit of a new ball surface.
“For us it’s important now to put today aside and get our minds switched on and stay strong for a big batting innings,” he added.
(With inputs from Agencies)
