Spinners played support role for fast bowlers, claims Ravindra Jadeja
Ravindra Jadeja has stated that he and Ravichandran Ashwin were playing the role of supporting for the pacers who did well on the Day 1 of the Nagpur Test against Sri Lanka. He also added that he will try to do his best if he is picked for the upcoming tour of South Africa that starts in December.
With an eye on the upcoming series against South Africa, the management had asked curators to produces pitches which would resemble the ones used in South Africa. The Kolkata pitch was a testing one for the batsmen and the pacers wreaked havoc with the Indian pacers taking all the wicket 17 wickets in the first Test. The spinners hardly got any chance in the first Test of the series as Ashwin bowled eight overs and Ravindra Jadeja bowled just one. But on Friday, it was a day for the spinners who put India in complete control claiming seven wickets whilst dismissing the visitors for 205.
"I am very happy with how I bowled today. I bowled well as there was no help from the pitch. I was trying to look to bowl in the right areas," Jadeja on Friday as quoted by TOI.
Ishant Sharma was the other bowler who claimed the remaining three wickets on the opening day of the Test. Jadeja admitted that the track did not provide the same amount of help for the pacers as the one at the Eden Gardens. However, he was quick to add that the pacers had done a great job in the opening overs to create the pressure on the Sri Lankans.
"It seems so because there was too much help for pacers in Kolkata. There was a lot of help from the wicket there, so you guys must have felt that every ball would yield a wicket. But that was not the case here because this wicket has grass but not the bounce or swing or the overcast conditions like in Kolkata," he explained.
"That's why we didn't get much help compared to Kolkata but the two (Ishant and Umesh) bowled well in the first session. We didn't give too many runs in the first session. They bowled as per the field set for them.
"I think Ashwin and I were trying to bowl in good areas, restrict them and not give them easy boundaries. So, we were in a support role as fast bowlers were doing well in the first session."
Ahead of the game, Kohli had made it clear that there wasn't a guaranteed place for both Ashwin and Jadeja in the playing XI in the South Africa series. When asked if he were the captain, who he would pick, Jadeja replied, "Yeh
"I can only control the controllable. When I get an opportunity, I will try to do well. No point thinking about what is not in my control. When I get a chance to play in SA, I will try to do well. When I got a chance last time, I played in the second Test after Ash played the first. That's why I said team's combination will depend on a composition of the opposition."