Follow Us“I was scared of this,” says Ravindra Jadeja about India’s unexpected series defeat at home against New Zealand after the play on Day 1 in the Mumbai Test.
India last lost a Test series at home in 2012, when England defeated the hosts 2-1. Jadeja made his Test debut in the last Test of that series, which ended in a draw. Since then, India have won 18 series on a bounce, to which Jadeja contributed massively with the ball, picking 219 wickets at 20.4 runs apiece.
Given New Zealand came to India without a single away series win since 2015 and have lost 0-2 in Sri Lanka, including an innings defeat in the second Test, India were expected to add another series win to the tally. However, New Zealand trumped India in back-to-back Tests, ending India’s golden streak.
“I didn’t want to lose a single series in India until I played, but it has happened. Whatever I think about, it happens suddenly,” Jadeja told the media on Friday (November 1).
“We have raised our expectations so high that we have not lost a single series for 12 years, and in 12 years, I have been involved in only five losses at home. As a team, it is a lesson. We need to pick up positives from this,” he added.
India have their back against the wall in the Mumbai Test as well. Having lost the toss, India did well to bowl New Zealand out for 235. In response, India were sailing nicely with the second-wicket partnership between Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill.
In the last 15 minutes, India lost three wickets in eight balls, each dismissal leaving a question mark on their muddled approach to the bat.
“When you are down in the series and such a situation comes up, obviously it feels like if you are down 2-0 in the series, that’s why you panicked and you made a mistake,” Jadeja said.
But when you keep winning and when you are ahead 2-0, then everyone says, ‘It’s okay, it happens’. When you are down in the series, then such small things always seems big,” he said regarding India’s fifth collapse in as many innings in this series.
In the first two Tests, Jadeja himself looked off-colour, managing seven wickets at 23.1 runs apiece. While these are good numbers, Jadeja’s performance in Pune (3/100 in the match) came under scrutiny, given the New Zealand left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner snapped 13 wickets in the match.
But he was back to his best in Mumbai, pouching his 14th five-for in Test cricket and helping India bundle out New Zealand for 235 with his figures of 5/65. He also had to battle the extreme humidity during the afternoon session, which troubled both India and New Zealand players as well as the umpires in the middle.
“It [the humidity and heat in Mumbai] was very challenging. At one point, gripping the ball was also a tough task. But at the international level, you have to be ready for such conditions. You get similar conditions in the practice sessions, so you have an idea what will pan out in the match.
“So we were mentally prepared for this, and we tried to keep our hands and the ball as dry as possible,” he said about the conditions.
“There was not much bounce in Pune. Here [in Mumbai], the ball turned and bounced and was going through well after pitching,” he added.
India will now need Jadeja with the bat as well to stay in the game. India will resume on Day 2 149 runs behind. Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant are the overnight batters, with Jadeja, Sarfaraz Khan, Washington Sundar and Ravichandran Ashwin to follow.
"Our remaining batters will have to build small partnerships. The upcoming batsmen will make small contributions and it will be good," Jadeja said on the approach going forward in this Test.
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