In India winning the second Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test by six wickets at Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday, Ravindra Jadeja as left-arm spin played a huge hand as his career-best figures of 7/42, breaking the back of Australias batting in the morning session.
After Jadeja was adjudged Player of the Match for a second successive time in the series, India skipper Rohit Sharma showered praise on his talismanic all-rounder, saying he relies on what he's best at and is continuing to do those things on the field.
"He's been brilliant. Comebacks are not easy, but the confidence that guy has in his abilities is massive. You can see it out on the field; there were times he was put under pressure.
But there was no sense of panic. He just kept relying on what he's best at and he kept doing that." Yesterday, he was put under pressure and he went for over five runs an over.
But he knew exactly what the Australian batters were trying to do and he was confident in his abilities that he can get those guys out under pressure and things like that, because he's played so much cricket, has 250-plus wickets.
So, he knows and he's got confidence in his abilities and I just have to trust that confidence," said Rohit in the post-match press conference. Jadeja, along with Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel, have been extremely vital in spearheading India's lower-order challenge with the bat.
At Nagpur, Jadeja and Patel made 70 and 84 respectively to pave the way for India taking substantial lead and eventually the win. In New Delhi, Axar slammed 74 off 115 balls, and shared an important 114-run partnership off 177 balls with Ashwin, who made 37 off 71 balls, for the eighth wicket to bring India on the threshold of taking a lead after being 139/7 at one point in the first innings.
"It's a big plus to have your batting go as deep as possible. It is something which we have been trying to get for so many years, to get batting depth as deep as possible.
Luckily, in these three guys, we have that. It gives you that advantage as well when bowlers are a little tired after bowling 60-70 overs. These guys come in and they play some shots as well; they are talented and can take on the bowlers as well.
That gives you an opportunity to put the pressure back on the opposition. It's always about creating that balance; with these three guys, it's a blessing for us because they are damn good bowlers and can bat quite well."
It holds us in good stead moving forward, especially in these conditions. But quite happy with the kind of depth we have in our batting, because in pitches like this, you need your batting to go as long as possible," concluded Rohit.