Watch: Jadeja Takes Something off Siraj's Hands and Rubs it on Finger; Michael Vaughan, Tim Paine add to Mystery

The opening day of the 1st Test between India and Australia going on in Nagpur belonged to the home side. India captain Rohit Sharma lost the toss and Australia opted to bat first but his bowlers ensured that the visiting team did not have an upper hand when the day closed. Ravindra Jadeja, making his comeback from injury after 6 months, picked up his 11th five-wicket haul in this format to break the back of the Australian batting lineup. His victims includes two of Australia's best batters in form of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith, who had stitched a 84-run stand for the third wicket after Australia lost openers David Warner and Usman Khawaja early. 

Also Read | 'I Used The...', Ravindra Jadeja Explains The Unique Method Behind Five-Wicket Haul on Nagpur Pitch in 1st IND vs AUS Test

Despite Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami dismissing the openers early in the day, the morning session belonged to the Aussies who steadied the ship after those two blows. Indian spinners were finding it tough to get going as the pitch was not really a rank-turner as expected. Jadeja came back with a different plan and struck twice in the same over, on back-to-back deliveries to send back Labuschagne and Matt Renshaw. He missed the hattrick but he managed to clean up Steve Smith soon. In the end, he finished with a five-wicket haul while his spin-twin R Ashwin picked up 3 wickets, reaching the landmark of 450 Test wickets in the process. 

India ended the day on 77 for 1 with skipper Rohit completing a fifty. KL Rahul was the only Indian wicket to fall on the day. 

However, by the end of the day, the western media managed to find a controversy and former cricketers from Australia and England stoked it as much as possible. Fox Cricket, the Australian broadcaster which has already given birth to pitch and wrong DRS call controversy, tweeted a video of Jadeja and Siraj's 'questionable moment'. During the Australian batting innings, Jadeja seemed to have taken something off Siraj's hands and rubbed it on his finger. Tim Paine added to the mystery by calling it 'Interesting' while former England captain Michael Vaughan asked his followers what was the substance Jadeja applied on his finger.

Watch the video of Jadeja taking something off Siraj's hands and the tweets from Vaughan and Paine: 

What is it he is putting on his spinning finger ? Never ever seen this _ #INDvsAUS https://t.co/NBPCjFmq3w — Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) February 9, 2023

Interesting — Tim Paine (@tdpaine36) February 9, 2023

As per some reports, it was an ointment that Jadeja used to apply on his sore fingers. The spinners usually feel soreness on the fingers with which they grip the ball after bowling long spells. Jadeja bowled 22 overs on Day 1 and when he applied the said ointment, half of the day's cricket was already played.