India successfully defended the Border Gavaskar Trophy when the fourth Test between India and Australia finished in a tie with the home team winning the series 2-1. India entered the match with a clear goal of winning after captain Rohit Sharma displayed his talent by scoring a century in the opening Test in Nagpur. After that, Ravindra Jadeja showed match-winning abilities with both the bat and the ball, aiding India in winning the first two games of the series.
India suffered a blow when they lost the third game, but four players scored centuries in the fourth game. Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli scored hundreds in the second innings, helping India end the match in a tie after Usman Khawaja and Cameron Green scored centuries for Australia in the first innings. Yet the spin bowling trio of Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Axar Patel was a major factor in India’s victories in the first two games.
While they caused havoc with the ball and continued to take wickets at regular intervals to demolish Australia’s batting order, Jadeja and Ashwin were mostly responsible for completing the assignment. In response to a question on the pair’s future during the post-match press conference on Monday, the Indian captain made a fairly blunt statement. Nonetheless, he didn’t hold back in lavishing praise on the two, referring to them as one of the team’s most valuable assets over the previous ten years.
“Honestly if they’ll be around, I don’t know, I’ll be around (laughs). But four years is a long time. I mean for the sake of Indian cricket, I hope they stay and they play a lot of cricket for India. Both of them are marathon players for us. They know exactly how to get the job done. Especially in this part of the world, you give them the ball, they get you those breakthroughs. With the bat, they get you crucial runs. Very, very important players for us,” said Rohit.
Ashwin and Jadeja continued to dominate despite the shifting sites, although the Ahmedabad pitch was unfavorable for the bowlers as the batters took advantage of the better track. Nonetheless, Jadeja and Ashwin shared the Player of the Series honor thanks to their combined 47 wickets during the four-match series. The two all-rounders, according to Rohit, are a key factor in India’s success during the past ten years.
“Where we stand today, in terms of how we performed especially in Indian conditions, a lot of credit goes to them. A large part of our success belongs to those two guys. Obviously, you know it’s not just for the period of a few years, it’s over a decade now. So it’s a long, long time to keep performing in the way these two guys have done for us,” he added. “And I can only hope that they continue to play as long as possible because those shoes will definitely be very, very big ones to fill. So, I hope for the sake of Indian cricket they continue as long as they can,” he concluded.
