Ravindra Jadeja, India all-rounder, sounded optimistic as he said that Rohit Sharma and co. are still in this game despite the late collapse suffered by the hosts. This happened in the ongoing third and final Test between India and New Zealand, being played in Mumbai.
Tom Latham, won the toss and chose to bat first on a spin-friendly surface in Wankhede Stadium. Will Young with 71 and Daryl Mitchell with 82 were the main run-getters for the visitors. For India, Ravindra Jadeja stood tall with five wickets, while Washington Sundar took 4 wickets and Akash Deep scalped one wicket.
India started cautiously, but in the span of the last 8 balls, lost the plot completely to finish day one on 86/4. Rohit Sharma was dismissed for 18 runs and then there was a little partnership between Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill.
But in the last two overs of the day, India lost 3 wickets in 8 balls. Jaiswal was bowled by Ajaz Patel for 30 runs and one ball later Mohammed Siraj, sent in as night watchman, was out for a golden duck.
As the day’s play was nearing its end, Virat Kohli tried to steal a quick single and was run out thanks to Matt Henry’s direct hit for just 4 runs, as India was reduced to 86/4.
Meanwhile, Ravindra Jadeja said that the team is not yet out of the match. Jadeja also said that it is unfair to blame specific individuals for the brief period of poor performance.
"It all unfolded in a mere 10 minutes, (we) did not get any time to react. But it happens, it is a team game, and any individual cannot be blamed specifically… small mistakes keep happening. But the next batters will have to forge partnerships and try and get past (the score of) 230 (235), only then the second innings will come into play. It will be good if the batters who are lined up to play next make their contributions,” Jadeja told the media in post-day presser.
"We still have a chance. It is not the case that we are out of the match. Hopefully, we will bat well tomorrow, and given that there is something happening on the wicket, if we also bowl well, then it will be good," he added.
With India facing yet another collapse, Jadeja refuted the notion that the repeated failure of specialist batsmen has put a lot of pressure on the lower order.
"Pressure is always there. It is not that when the top-order does not perform, the pressure is always there on the lower order. When the top-order does perform, even then there is pressure on the lower-order as to why they are not doing it?" he replied.
Jadeja acknowledged that India's poor performances in the first innings across the three Tests against New Zealand have been crucial to their struggles.
"Sometimes, when you are down 0-2, it takes time for you to do anything, or even to bounce back. We have not done enough in the first innings from the first Test and have been behind in the game. Even in Pune, we did not bat well and repeated the same mistakes and have been lagging behind,” Jadeja stated.
India needs to win this Test to avoid being white-washed at home for the first time since 2000 and also to remain in contention for the WTC 2025 final.
(PTI inputs)
