BRISBANE: KL Rahul praised all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja for his defiant knock that helped India avoid follow-on in the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) against Australia on Tuesday.
After captain Rohit Sharma’s early dismissal, Rahul and Jadeja stitched together a 67-run partnership for the sixth wicket, which played a key role in avoiding the follow-on.
“He was brilliant today and has been brilliant for us batting up the order for many, many years. This is what we expect from Jadeja,” said Rahul.
“Very happy that, firstly, I was able to form a partnership with him when he arrived. It was very necessary at that stage. So he scored 70-80 runs with the tail, every run today was crucial for us to get through first and see how many runs we could put on the board, and he made that possible.
Continuing to praise Jadeja, Rahul stated that while Jadeja’s bowling is duly highlighted, his batting skills often go unnoticed.
“Often people only talk about Jadeja’s bowling, but I think he has performed very well even with the bat. He has solid technique and I like batting with him. I like watching him train. He seems to have his game plan very simple and organized,” said Rahul.
Jadeja’s courage finally ended in India’s 66th innings when Australian captain Pat Cummins deceived him with a well-directed bouncer. The left-handed batsman scored an important 77 runs off 123 deliveries.
