‘It’s a bitter lesson’: Justin Langer tells Yashasvi Jaiswal as Mitchell Starc gets ‘last laugh’ after ‘too slow’ jib

Yashasvi Jaiswal was dismissed on a first-ball duck as India opted to bat in the pink-ball Test in Adelaide on Friday. Jaiswal, opposite Mitchell Starc, could not adjust to the late swing as he was trapped in front of the wickets. This was the third time that Starc took the wicket from the first ball of the innings in a Test match and on this occasion he dismissed the dangerous Jaiswal, who had smashed a brilliant 161 in the previous Test in Perth.

However, there is an interesting subplot to this dismissal. Starc was fired up after removing Jaiswal and rightly so; in the previous Test, the Indian batter had sledged Starc and called him “slow” when he faced him for the century. Finally, when Starc dismissed the young opener on Friday, many reminded Jaiswal of his slide on social media and former Australian opener Justin Langer also reacted to the incident.

Speaking to Star Sports, Langer said one of the “bitter” lessons he learned is that the bowlers always “get the last laugh.”

“One thing I learned at a very young age (is that) bowlers always get the last laugh. Eventually you get out,” Langer said.

“Yes, you can have a bit of banter with the bowler, but bowlers always get the last laugh. It’s a bitter lesson I learned early on and Mitchell Starc got the last laugh here.”

India in early trouble

Despite the early setback, India were on course for a rebuild, thanks to KL Rahul and Shubman Gill’s 69-run partnership for the second wicket. However, Rahul’s dismissal triggered another batting collapse as India lost their next three wickets within just 18 runs.

Virat Kohli, also a centurion from the previous Test, also fell to Starc when he edged a delivery outside off stump for an easy catch at slip. Indian captain Rohit Sharma, meanwhile, failed to return to the XI as a middle-order batter as he was caught at toss against Scott Boland for just 3 off 23 deliveries.