"They Saw Rough Patches From Flight": Ravindra Jadeja Shuts Down Nagpur Pitch Critics In Epic Fashion
The pitch prepared for the first Test between India and Australia generated plenty of buzz, even before the start of the match, with some former Australian cricketers and experts calling it 'doctored'.
The opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy resulted in a comprehensive victory for India, who defeated Australia by an innings and 132 runs. While India put a whopping 400 runs on the board in the first innings, Australia couldn't even get close to the total in two innings. Ravindra Jadeja, who performed with both the bat and the ball, was asked about the 'pitch talk' that started well before the first ball was bowled in the match. The all-rounder gave an epic response to the critics putting all their focus on the 'pitch' and not on the performance that is required to excel.
Trolling the Australians in a hilarious fashion, Jadeja said that the tourists probably started to see rough patches on the wicket when they were in the plane, on their way to India.
"Unko flight se hi rough patches dikh rahe the (They had probably spotted the rough from the flight itself). 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," Jadeja said on Star Sports after the conclusion of the match.
Jadeja also defended India's persistence with spinners in home Test assignments. The all-rounder admitted that spin bowling is the team's strength and it's fair for them to create pitches accordingly.
"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," he said.
Pointing out that the Indian team doesn't complain when green tops are prepared for overseas assignments. Hence, Australians shouldn't say anything when spinning tracks are created when they come to the Asian sub-continent.
"When we go to Australia, they put 18-20 mm grass. We don't talk about the pitch then, hence they shouldn't say such things when they come to India," the veteran cricketer asserted.
India Cricket Team
Australia Cricket Team
Ravindra Jadeja