Not his hundred or five-wicket haul or Yashasvi Jaiswal’s double hundred, but Ravindra Jadeja has credited Rohit Sharma winning the toss as the biggest reason why India won the third Test. Playing on his home ground, the ‘Player of the Match’ revealed that given how the pitch plays in Rajkot, all the India cricket team wanted was to win the toss and bat first.
“I know about this wicket. We wanted to bat first; it’s always good to bat. The ball comes nicely onto the bat, but in the second half, it starts spinning. I know when we won the toss, I was like, OK, this is what we wanted, you know, to bat first,” Ravindra Jadeja said to Deep Dasgupta after winning the ‘player of the match’ award.
Talking about his mindset when he walked in to bat with India 33/3 on Day 1 of the India vs England 3rd Test, all-rounder said:
“No, I was just looking to build partnership with Rohit (Sharma), you know, because we were in a difficult situation—33/3 in the first inning. And, my job was to just play the role and look to just look to back my strength and play my shots, not try and be more conscious. Just see the ball, watch the ball, and play the ball.”
On how Indian bowlers managed to get 20 wickets in just 110 overs while England managed to take just 14 wickets in 228 overs, Ravindra Jadeja said:
“On this wicket, you won’t get easy wickets. You have to work hard for it because, as I said, the surface is very, very good to bat on. So I think you need to work hard to get wickets. You need to throw balls in the good areas. You can’t just, you know, bowl, bowl, and get wickets easily. So you have to work hard, and you have to earn the wicket.“
