India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was the star of the show for the home team and stated it was hard to bounce back with the team trailing 0-2 but happy with his performance on the first day.
“First two matches I didn’t perform well, nothing special. Whenever, you are trailing 0-2 in the series, it takes time to bounce back, its a lot more harder. But, if you look at our performance in the first Test, we didn’t bat well enough in the first innings and it was the same in Pune as well. We repeated the same mistakes from the first Test in the second Test and that has been the problem for us and kept us back in the game,’’ he added.
There was absolute mayhem in the last 10 minutes of the day’s play when India lost the wickets of nightwatchman Mohammad Siraj and the huge wicket of Virat Kohli to a needless run out. Jadeja revealed there was no time to react sitting in the dressing room.
“There was no time to react to what was happening as everything happened so quickly..(laughs). But these things happen. It’s a team game, we can’t blame any individual. Mistakes happen at times. Anyway, the batsmen who are yet to bat will have to put on some crucial partnerships and give it their best shot. The closer we get to 235 or more than that that will help us.”
Talking about the failure of the top order once again and the pressure it puts on the lower order, Jadeja said pressure is a constant while playing for India.
“Pressure is always there. It’s not that there is only pressure on the lower order when the top order don’t perform. Pressure is there even if the top order perform because then it’s about what have we done. At the international level, when you are playing for India, there is pressure at all times no matter what situation. You just cannot relax while representing India. The lesson for us here is not to repeat the mistakes that we have already done and look to make a comeback if we bat well enough tomorrow.”
"It’s special to walk out here and play Test cricket" - Daryl Mitchell
Meanwhile, Daryl Mitchell has fond memories of the iconic Wankhede Stadium where he struck that famous hundred against India last year in the ODI World Cup semifinal albeit in a losing cause.
However, the New Zealand batter’s half-century on the first day of the Mumbai Test would be invaluable for his team’s fortunes considering the situation of the game at the moment and Mitchell was poignant about the venue.
“It’s a beautiful ground to play cricket and as a kid I’ve watched games being played here on TV. I’ve seen plenty of games here shown on TV. It’s special to walk out here and play Test cricket,’’ he added.
Mitchell was forthright about the condition of the pitch.
“It’s the nature of the red soil pitch in this part of the world. There will be some pace and turn. We were expecting a total and now we can hopefully take a few more wickets. We will see what happens tomorrow. The game is evenly poised at the moment and that’s the nature of the format.”
The NZ batter was also proud of his own individual performance in the series.
“Firstly, very proud to win the series here and to stitch partnerships that help the team’s cause. Keep trying to put totals on board. Today, its nice to contribute to the team and put on a total that we can defend and take some wickets. It was pretty humid today and pretty sticky. There wasn’t a lot of breeze and coming from NZ it was hard but these are the challenges of playing Test cricket. This is why you play Test cricket to test yourself in these conditions. Very proud to get the job done.”
Mitchel also felt the first hour after lunch was a testing time for NZ batters.
“The first hour after lunch when Will Young and I was batting was seriously warm. Even the Indian players were battling with it. The last half an hour before tea break, the idea was to be switched on when the bowlers were bowling and then conserve energy and concentrate on breathing. The tea break was good as I could jump into the ice bath and came out feeling a lot better after that,’’ he added.
