Ravindra Jadeja believes that the rough pitch in India may have affected the Australian players’ thoughts as soon as they boarded the flight to India. The Indian team, led by Rohit Sharma, crushed Australia by an inning and 132 runs in Nagpur on Saturday (February 11). They first dismissed the visitors for 177 and then for 91 after scoring 400 in their only batting innings.
A memorable comeback for Jadeja
Ravindra Jadeja made a memorable comeback to international cricket after a five-month break. In the first match of the four-game series against Australia at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur, he took a five-wicket haul in the first innings and followed it with a well-crafted 70-run knock. He could have finished things off perfectly if he had kept his foot inside the line while bowling.
During a post-match interview with Star Sports, the interviewer asked Jadeja about his thoughts on whether the pre-match talk about the pitch impacted the Australian batter’s minds. He responded
“I feel they were seeing the rough from the moment they sat on the flight. The atmosphere they created that it would spin; it didn’t spin that much. If we see, they got out more to straight balls. We also got out lbw on straight balls.”
He further added
“This is bound to happen in India because we will obviously play to our team’s strength. Our fast bowlers are also good, but spinners win more matches in India and pick up wickets, so why shouldn’t we go with our strength?”
The interviewer also asked Jadeja about the Indian team’s mindset following their impressive innings victory, and he replied:
“As a team, everyone’s confidence will be high because almost all batters contributed, and all three spinners picked up wickets. Axar didn’t get to bowl much in the second innings because Ash (Ashwin) only completed the job.”
Follow us on Twitter for more!
