Pitch talk, and Jadeja's growth

India v Australia, 4th Test Dharamsala. 3rd day 

The Pitch

Right from the start of home session, pitches have been a central point of discussion. Against New Zealand and England the pitches were quite Indian i.e slow batting friendly. Something similar was expected against Australia. But on eve on Pune game, the curator declared that ball will fly in Pune. So focus again shifted towards pitches. Contrary to curators belief, Pune turned out to be a rank turner which was tagged as 'poor' by ICC. Bangalore pitch had uneven bounce, ICC rated it as 'average'. The one in Ranchi could not produce a result. Though, Dharamsala has to be one of the best pitch produced in India for some time. It has something in it for everyone. If applied properly one can bat and score runs as Steven Smith did. Bounce and seam movement implies that seamers are always in it. On day-3 Pat Cummins exploited the available bounce to dismiss Saha. Umesh Yadav too used bouncer liberally to bounce-out Matt Renshaw, Yadav used seam movement to dismiss David Warner. Cracks can be utilized to gain extra spin and variable bounce and the barren part for natural variation.

All Rounder Jadeja

Ravichandran Ashwin sits in press conference and unreservedly talks about his craft.. He takes journalists or interviewer through his dismissal - how to set up batsman, the rationale behind field positioning and all those stuffs. His bowling partner Ravindra Jadeja is exact opposite of him. He goes about his business quietly.

From Ashwin, labeling Jadeja as his support cast to now Jadeja, thumping him in ICC ranking as number one ranked bowler, Jadeja has come a long way. The change is palpable in Jadeja's approach. Without giving up unerring accuracy he has added pace variations in his bowling. He now also bats with responsibility. At start of days play, India were 51 runs behind. With Saha, Jadeja stitched a match defining partnership. Instead of going all guns blazing he buckled down. Curbing his natural instincts he left a lot of balls. ESPN ball by ball data shows that against Lyon - who picked up a 5 wicket hall -  he had better control than any of his team mates which includes half-centurion Rahul and Pujara. The fact that he has scored 6 50+ scores this season, same number of 50+ scores as Virat Kohli, M Vijay and KL Rahul highlights Jadeja's growth as an allrounder.

With ball Jadeja claimed 3 wickets. He deceived batsman in the air rather than using pitch to his advantage. Several times he bewildered batsman by altering angles by going closer or wider of the stumps. The wicket of Shaun Marsh was a result of late dip. Owing to subtleties in the air Marsh was forced to go back to a delivery which he should have played on front foot. Pat Cummins wicket was a result of building constant pressure with dots and then foxing him by dragging his line wider. Against SOK he used extra bounce eho was caught at silly point.

Captain Rahane shows astuteness   

Ajinkya Rahane doesn't have an aura of Virat Kohli. Unlike Virat he is neither very animated nor emotional. Don't expect Rahane to posses crowd attracting demeanor. But yet he goes about his work efficiently. In Melbourne, when Virat Kohli was roughed-up in battle with Mitchell Johnson, it was Rahane who brought his focus back. Now, in Dharamsala he has stepped up brilliantly in Virat Kohli's absence. Right from the start he has exhibited match awareness. On day-1, at lunch when match was slipping away from India, Rahane used novelty of Kuldeep Yadav to turn things around. He gave Kuldeep a 14 over spell which yielded in 3 wickets. On day-3 he allowed spin twins of Ashwin and Jadeja to settle into right rhythm by bowling both of them in tandem. Unlike Virat who sometimes over uses in-out fields, Rahane deployed his fielder within ring to choke runs.