"You cannot make this mistake repeatedly if you are a professional" - Sunil Gavaskar on Ravindra Jadeja's no-ball issues

Sunil Gavaskar has criticized Ravindra Jadeja for repeatedly bowling no-balls, a transgression that cost India dearly on Day 1 of the third Test against Australia.

Australia would have been reduced to 14/2 in Indore on Wednesday, March 1, had Jadeja not overstepped when Marnus Labuschagne played a delivery onto his stumps before opening his account.

Labuschagne went on to score 31 and strung together a 96-run second-wicket partnership with Usman Khawaja. The visitors ended the day on 156/4 after having bowled out Rohit Sharma and Co. for 109 earlier.

During a discussion on Star Sports, Gavaskar was disappointed with Ravindra Jadeja for overstepping regularly, saying:

"I want to talk about the no-ball. You cannot make this mistake repeatedly if you are a professional and especially if you are a spinner, you have to bowl from behind the crease."

The former Indian skipper pointed out that the left-arm spinner failed to control the controllable, elaborating:

"When you come for an interview in the evening, you say you like to do what is in your control. Not bowling no-balls is in your control, so why is that happening? Who takes the responsibility for that - only the bowler, the bowling coach - whoever it is, it has happened many times in three Test matches."

Gavaskar added that Jadeja needs to focus on rectifying the issue. He highlighted that the no-ball could decide the result of the match as Labuschagne, who could have been dismissed for a duck, forged an excellent partnership with Khawaja thereafter.

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"This is not expected from a bowler like Ravindra Jadeja" - Harbhajan Singh

Ravindra Jadeja bowled a no-ball earlier in his spell as well. [P/C: BCCI]

Harbhajan Singh was further asked about his thoughts on Ravindra Jadeja having bowled eight no-balls in the series thus far, to which he responded:

"You probably don't have eight no-balls in a career. This is not expected from a bowler like Ravindra Jadeja and it becomes a bigger cause for concern if you get a wicket on that."

The former Indian spinner highlighted that Australia could have been put under immense pressure had Labuschagne been dismissed at that stage, explaining:

"As Sunny bhai said, Labuschagne would have been dismissed for a duck and because of that a commotion would have been created in that dressing room, that you are 10/2, which means if you had picked up two more wickets at that stage, it would have been 25/4."

Harbhajan added that it would have been very difficult for Steve Smith and Co. to recover had they lost a couple more wickets at the time. The cricketer-turned-commentator concluded by saying that a spinner bowling a no-ball is a crime and that Jadeja doing so is beyond his understanding.