Harbhajan blames damp pitch, loss of toss for Indian collapse

“The toss was very crucial. The wicket was quite damp. They bowled well in the given conditions, and they got the rewards,” said the off-spinner on Thursday evening.
 “It’s always tricky to lose the toss on these kind of wickets. A few balls were going, a few were stopping and coming, so it was difficult in terms of batting.

“We were quite prepared to play on a good track but unfortunately with the rain and stuff, it was quite a damp wicket. The toss was very crucial to this match.

“Had we won the toss, we would have bowled first and then who knows what would have happened.”

Asked if a practice game before the first Test would have the done the batsmen good, he retorted, “I don’t think the warm-up game would have made any difference. We are actually playing on a very different wicket, a wet wicket where the ball is seaming or nipping. The warm-up game would have been on a perfect cricketing wicket.
“But you can’t keep complaining about wickets; we need to make sure we come back into the game.”

At the same time, he issued a strong challenge, saying India could not be written off yet. “We are pretty confident. As I said, it is not over yet,” he observed. “We played one session badly, it doesn’t mean we can’t come back. We have shown that we are a team that likes to be challenged.

“We are in a situation where we have to go out and give our best, try to get them out, and make sure they don’t go too far from us. Whatever has happened is gone. I think we can make a match out of this.”