JOIN USAfter hardly getting a ball in the opening Test on a green-top at Eden, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were back tormenting the batsmen. The spin duo claimed seven wickets between them on the opening-day wicket as India shot Sri Lanka for 205 in the first innings of the second Test.
Jadeja, who claimed 3/56, was happy to see the change in spinners' fortunes. "Yeah obviously… finally I was very happy how I was bowling today. I was bowling well as there was no help from the wicket. I was trying to look to bowl in the right areas. I think me and Ashwin were trying to bowl good areas. Try and restrict them and not give them easy boundaries. So, we were just doing supporting role as fast bowlers were doing well in the first session," he remarked.
Jadeja felt there was enough help for the pacers but less in comparison to Kolkata. "It (no help for pacers) seems so because there was too much help for pacers in Kolkata," he reasoned. "There was a lot of help from the wicket there, so you guys must have felt that every ball will yield a wicket but that was not the case over here. This wicket has grass but not the bounce or swing or the overcast conditions like in Kolkata. That's why we didn't see much help compared to Kolkata but the two (Ishant and Umesh Yadav) bowled well in the first session. We didn't give too many runs in the first session, they bowled as per the field set for them."
Ashwin (4/67) claimed all his wickets coming round the wicket, and Jadeja shed light on the strategy. "I think, if there is nothing in the wicket for the spinners, then it's good to try something different. Over the wicket or round the wicket, just try and create a chance. It doesn't matter if you are bowling over the wicket or round the wicket," he pointed out.