"I feel they were seeing the rough from the moment they sat on the flight" - Ravindra Jadeja on pre-match talk about pitch
Ravindra Jadeja reckons the rough on the pitch might have played on the Australian players' minds the moment they boarded the flight to India.
Rohit Sharma and Co. thrashed Pat Cummins' side by an innings and 132 runs in Nagpur on Saturday (February 11). They bowled out the visitors for 177 and 91 either side of posting 400 on the board in their only batting innings.
During a post-match interview with Star Sports, Jadeja was asked about his thoughts on whether the pre-match talk about the pitch played on the Australian batters' 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."
The spin-bowling all-rounder added that wickets in India are bound to assist spinners, reasoning:
"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?"
Pat Cummins said, "the Nagpur pitch wasn't unplayable".
Jadeja pointed out these things are not talked about when 18 to 20 mm of grass is kept on pitches when India travel to Australia. He added that similarly there shouldn't be any talk about all these things when the Aussies come to India.
"Everyone's confidence will be high" - Ravindra Jadeja on India's mindset after massive win
Jadeja was also asked about the Indian team's mindset after their emphatic innings victory, to which 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."
The left-arm spinner concluded by opining that the visitors will be under pressure to figure out a way to tackle the Indian spinners in the next Test in Delhi:
"Everyone is bowling well and contributing, so when you win by an innings and such a big margin, I feel the confidence level is boosted. There will be more pressure on them in the upcoming game that how they will play the spinners."
FOX CRICKET: Australian media is not happy with the pitch used in Nagpur Test as it played better than what was expected.
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Ravichandran Ashwin and Jadeja picked up eight and seven wickets respectively across Australia's two innings. While Mohammad Shami snared three wickets, Mohammed Siraj and Axar Patel accounted for a dismissal apiece.