India vs Australia: Ravindra Jadeja returns to international cricket with five-for

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Ravindra Jadeja made a return to international cricket with a bang as the left-arm orthodox took five wickets on the opening day of the India vs Australia 1st Test in Nagpur on Thursday.

This was Ravindra Jadeja's first international match since September 2022 as a freak knee injury during Asia Cup forced him to miss the T20 World Cup in Australia soon after.

Jadeja retained a spell of 5/47 as Australia were bundled out Australia for 177 in 63.5 overs right after the tea break. Ravindra Jadeja was backed by right-arm off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who finished with a spell of 3/42.

With the dry nature of pitch provding turn from Day 1, Jadeja made the most out of the conditions. The 31-year-old all-rounder broke the backbone of Australian innings by removing a set Marnus Labuschagne (49) and Steve Smith (37) in quick succession.

The Aussie duo threatened to put good amount of runs on the board as they recovered the visitors from 2/2 with a 82-run stand. Jadeja first removed Labuschagne a run short of half century in his first innings in India while Steve Smith was clean bowled with a peach of a delivery soon after.

Matt Renshaw's wicket was sandwiched in between as the southpaw was dismissed of the first delivery by Ravindra Jadeja.

Jadeja was not done with important wickets on the day yet as he also lbw a set Peter Handscomb for 31 for his fifth wicket after dismissing tailender Todd Murphy for a five-ball duck on his Test debut.

With the five-wicket spell, Ravindra Jadeja increased his Test wicket tally to 242 in 60 matches while his best bolwing figure remains a 7/68.

Jadeja delivered a seven-wicket spell for Saurashtra to help his domestic side reach the Ranji Trophy semifinal and establish his fitness to be back in the Indian team for the Border-Gavaskar series.