During the first test between India and Australia, a debate erupts over Ravindra Jadeja’s act

The debate has erupted after footage of an unusual moment involving India star Ravindra Jadeja emerged during the first Test against Australia.

With the Aussies sitting at 5-120 and Jadeja preparing to bowl his 16th over of the day, televised coverage caught the bowler walking over to speak to one of his teammates.

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He then appears to rub something off his teammate’s hand before then rubbing his own hands and fingers while holding the ball.

It’s unclear exactly what happened, but observant fans, noticing the incident, were quick to share their thoughts.

Among them was former Australian Test captain Tim Paine, who tweeted “interesting” in response to someone who posted the vision.

“Someone sent me this asking what’s going on with ball management here?” cricket commentator Andrew Menczel tweeted.

One fan said: “Jadeja is definitely wiping something off the outfielder’s wrist. Then you start working on the ball?”

Another fan added: “How do you feel about this?? A little Vasso on the ball… Jadeja puts himself in a world of trouble for manipulating the ball. India has already covered a shady playing field.

But other fans quickly chimed in, saying he was just rubbing his fingers and not touching the ball.

“Looks more like he’s rubbing something on his finger rather than the ball, which occasionally happens in baseball when pitchers illegally rub some sticky stuff on their fingers to get more spin,” they said.

Another added: “He polished his first finger. It is a difficult task for finger spinners to cast long spells. Polishing finger keeps fingers in shape. That way the repetitions can be controlled.”

Another said: “He doesn’t touch the ball. He’s probably using dust on his finger. This is acceptable and NOT ball manipulation.”

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Jadeja finished 5-47 as India dominated Day 1 of the first Test in Nagpur.

After opting to bat first on a rotating court at VCA Stadium, Pat Cummins’ side were bowled out for 177 in 64 overs before India raced to 1-77 at stumps.

India captain Rohit Sharma (no. 56) laced Cummins for 13 runs after the first over in an ominous start to the home team’s innings.

Cummins and Scott Boland, in his first Test outside of Australia, are the visitors’ only quicks as the selection opted to pick debutant Todd Murphy (1-13) to partner with star veteran Nathan Lyon.

Young Victorian Murphy, Australia’s 465th Test player, claimed his first international wicket just short of stumps and hung on to a catch from his own bowling to sack KL Rahul (20).

Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (0 no) was sent out as a night watchman and survived the last time.

Australia’s weaknesses against the turning ball were poorly exposed as they lost eight wickets on turning, with star all-rounder Jadeja winning 5-47.

It might be tough to hit, but it was still Australia’s lowest first innings since 2016 as they chased their first straight win in India in 19 years.

Left-arm spinner Jadeja, playing his first Test since July, claimed the key wickets of Marnus Labuschagne (49) and Steve Smith (37) as Australia’s hopes of a respectable total in the first Test have all but died with their dismissals.

Australia were 2-76 at lunch but lost six wickets during the middle session after Labuschagne and Smith tried to revive the innings as they tied at 2-2.

Peter Handscomb, recalled for his first Test since January 2019, made a brave 31 but was the ninth man after also falling against Jadeja.

“Jadeja obviously bowled very well and didn’t really offer much to our batsmen,” said Handscomb.

“I just wanted to be there for as long as possible, but it definitely wasn’t easy out there. The Indian team bowled very well as a unit and really didn’t give us much to score.”

The pre-game conversation focused on the unusual ways the ground staff used to curate the pitch to capitalize on India’s trio of crackpots – Jadeja, Ashwin and Axar Patel.

Openers David Warner and Usman Khawaja fell through quicks, but the other eight wickets were claimed by Jadeja and Ashwin (3-42).

Khawaja was out on the first ball of the second over after India successfully checked a lbw scream from Mohammed Siraj (1-30).

The ball appeared to fly down the side of the leg, but DRS showed it hit Khawaja’s stump.

Warner’s dismissal was in no doubt as the aggressive veteran sped away after a brilliant display from Mohammed Shami (1-18).

Australia’s selectors dropped dynamic left-hander Travis Head, who is ranked No. 4 in the world for batsman and favors Matthew Renshaw and Handscomb.

Though he averaged more than 50 points and had two centuries last year, Head’s poor record in Asia worked against him.

Renshaw was out for a golden duck when the Queenslander dropped the ball after Labuschagne was stumped.

India made their debuts with Twenty20 sensation Suryakumar Yadav and wicketkeeper KS Bharat replacing Rishabh Pant after the star sustained serious injuries in a car accident in December.

– With AAP