‘Pitch isn’t a rank turner, needed to use crease to confuse batters’

‘Pitch isn’t a rank turner, needed to use crease to confuse batters’ Ravindra Jadeja used the crease intelligently to create a variety of angles which confused the Australian batters, and clearly showed his exploits on Thursday were not the result of so-called ”rank turner” as is being bandied around by some. Jadeja took 5 for 47 on his international comeback with the prized scalps of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith as Australia managed only 177 in their first innings on the opening day of the Border-Gavaskar series. ”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 the nature of Test cricket,” Jadeja said at the end of day’s play. He then explained how he played mind games with the batters and got the better of them. ”I used the crease as not every delivery was turning. And, as I said, the bounce was low, so trying (I tried) to create doubts in the minds of the batters,” he explained. ”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 (delivery) turned after pitching. And for (Steve) Smith, the ball went straight from that same spot from where I delivered the earlier (Marnus) delivery,” said the man, who is now three shy of 250 Test wickets.