India spinner Ravindra Jadeja said that the pitch prepared for the first Test against Australia in Nagpur was not a rank turner.
Jadeja’s five-wicket haul helped India bowl out the visitors for 177 on day one of the Test with fellow spinner Ashwin Ravichandran picking up three wickets. India trail Australia by 100 runs after ending the day at 77-1.
Speaking at the press conference at the end of day’s play, Jadeja said that the pitch was not turning as much as the pitch at Chepauk where he had helped Saurashtra beat Tamil Nadu to enter the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy.
“This wasn’t a rank turner. Compared to other pitches, it was slow and had low bounce. I felt defending wasn’t very difficult today but as the game progresses, it (defending) will become increasingly difficult. But that’s happens in every Test match,” Jadeja said.
“I wouldn’t say this is exactly like the Chennai track (where the Ranji Trophy game was played) but quite similar to it in terms of low bounce. So, the thought process was to bowl stump to stump,” he added.
Despite the pre-match attention, the pitch was not turning from ball one. The visitors lost both their openers early on to fast bowlers Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami. However, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne stitched together an 82-run partnership for the third wicket as they negated India’s spin threat early on.
“They were searching for runs and it wasn’t easy to rotate the strike and get runs off each ball. (So they) also started trying different things. And once they had a partnership, I thought, I should bowl as many dot balls as possible consistently. Pitch wasn’t offering turn, so had to bowl good areas and maintain good line and length to break the stand,” Jadeja said.
However, Jadeja ended that promising partnership by dismissing Labuschagne and then followed it up by getting the wicket of Matt Renshaw the very next ball. He soon followed it up by taking the wicket of Steve Smith to leave the visitors struggling at 109-5.
The 34-year-old explained how he used the crease and bowled from different angles to beat the Australian batters.
“I used the crease as not every delivery was turning. And, as I said, the bounce was low, so (I tried) to create doubts in the minds of the batters. I was going wide off the crease and coming close to the stumps and some deliveries if they stepped out and it turned, there would always be a chance.
“Luckily, he (Marnus Labuschagne) stepped out and that one turned after pitching. And for Smith, the ball went straight from that same spot from where I delivered the earlier (Marnus) delivery. Yes, there was natural variation from the wicket, but I tried to mix up the angles, so that there was doubt in the batter’s mind,” Jadeja said.
It was Jadeja’s first international match in almost six months after he injured his right knee in August 2022. The injury saw Jadeja miss India’s Asia Cup and T20 World Cup campaigns and he only made his comeback in the Ranji Trophy in the last week of January.
His eight-wicket haul at Chepauk helped Saurashtra beat Tamil Nadu and help them reach the semi-finals. Speaking about his time away from the game, Jadeja said, “It was difficult as I have missed a lot of cricket in the last five months, missed important tournaments. Rehabs are tough for players and even tougher is to keep the level of performance post rehab.”
“You need that confidence and there are always doubts that post injury your performance will remain the same or not. My motivation was to get fit as quickly as possible as I had already spent five months away from cricket and I wanted to be 100 per cent fit, so it took me some more time. The doubt that I wanted to clear is whether or not I am able to give that 100 per cent in match situation,” he added.