Return of the Jedi-ja: Ravinder Jadeja registers 11th five-wicket haul, crushes Australia’s ambition

The first was when Marcus Labuschagne, the most fluent of all Australia’s batters on the day, was dragged forward and deceived, the ball dipping late, gripping hard and turning quickly past the outside edge. KS Bharat, on debut, collected the cherry and had the bails off in a flash. This was a classic Jadeja move: toss one ball up just a bit more, a little slower through the air and get it to turn exaggeratedly. It doesn’t always get him wickets, but it does put wicked thoughts in the minds of batters. Labuschagne made 49 of Australia’s 177.

The second quintessentially Jadeja moment came when Steve Smith, the Australian batsman with the best plans for the conditions, the soundest defence and the most patience, played outside the line of the ball, bat perfectly in place to cover the turn, only for the ball to go gun barrel straight and disturb the stumps. Smith contributed 37 of Australia’s 177.

The third Jadeja signature came when Peter Handscomb just about seemed to come to grip with the conditions. Planting his foot forward and playing the hard sweep, Handscomb missed and off Jadeja went, running down the pitch in celebration, barely bothering to appeal as he knew the finger was going up behind him. Handscomb reviewed, in desperate hope, but the ball tracker showed that leather would have met halfway up middle stump. Handscomb chipped in with 31 of Australia’s 177.

Handscomb should have known that this is Jadeja’s operation zone. Jadeja bowls from different angles, different trajectories and speeds, but his aim is always the middle of middle stump. Many batters have made the mistake of playing the pitch rather than the bowler in conditions that they perceive to be extreme in India and inevitably it is the straight ball that is most dangerous. It is another matter that it’s not easy to control the degree of turn on a helpful surface, but, somehow that comes naturally to Jadeja.

Jadeja’s 11th five-wicket haul, coming in his first home Test since March last year, signalled a triumphant return to the longest form of the game and ensured that Australia’s ambitions were crushed at the very first chance possible.

The critical part of Jadeja’s performance was that it was all down to skill and none of the wickets that fell came because of spiteful turn or variable bounce from the dry patches left to target Australia’s left-handed batters. This was a pitch on which it was eminently possible to score runs, as India showed, getting to 77 for 1 by the close of play.Rohit Sharma laid out the template: use the depth of the crease and go right back when the ball is short enough, judge the length of the spinner’s delivery before choosing your shot and in all this, look to score, not just survive at the crease. Rohit’s unbeaten 56 came off only 69 balls, and the fluency with which he scored allowed KL Rahul to continue his search for runs. Rahul looked indecisive at the crease, like he was desperate to play some shots but was holding himself back and eventually it was this that cost him his wickets as the shadows lengthened in Nagpur. Rahul, having seen off 70 balls for 21, gave Todd Murphy his maiden Test wicket, chipping the ball back to the bowler.

It was all India on the first day, with Australia allowing the home team to dominate. But you can be sure they will fight harder when the second day begins.