India’s failure with the bat were exposed in the first warm-up against New Zealand on Saturday but all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja said there is “nothing to worry” and the team will sort out its weakness by the time World Cup begins next week.
Against New Zealand, India won the toss and elected to bat but that decision did not prove right. India suffered an early collapse in conditions that helped the Black Cap bowlers at the Oval. India were eventually bowled out for 179 in 39.2 overs. Ravindra Jadeja’s 54 off 50 balls and Hardik Pandya’s 37-ball 30 were the only substantial scores.
“This is our first game, it is just one game and we can’t judge players on one bad innings, one bad match,” Jadeja said. “So nothing to worry as a batting unit.”
“It is always difficult in England, you are coming from India, where you play in flat wicket... we still have time to work on it. There is nothing to worry, just keep playing good cricket.
“As a batting unit we will work harder on our batting skills, everyone has a lot of experience, so nothing to worry.”
Jadeja also hoped that India will get better wickets with lesser grass during the World Cup.
“It was typical English conditions, wicket was soft initially but it got better as day progressed. We hope we don’t get this much amount of grass and get a better wicket to bat in the World cup,” he said.
The left-handed batsman explained captain Virat Kohli’s decision to bat first and said that they wanted to test their batsmen in seaming conditions.
“We knew there will be seaming conditions, so we decided to bat to face tough conditions because if we bat in such conditions it will be easy for batsmen in actual matches. We took it as a challenge. We will do well, we have no doubt,” he said.
Jadeja, who scored a half-century, said he will look to play his natural game and not put himself under pressure during the showpiece event.
“Everywhere I play, I will continue doing what I do. I will not put pressure on myself thinking about the world cup, will try to keep it simple,” he said.
In an innings which had six fours and two sixes, Jadeja played some sensible shots which was a conscious effort.
“I had a lot of time, there were lot of overs. So I was talking to myself to not get the shot selection wrong. There was no rush. I knew if I can clear the initial overs, it will be helpful for me and that is what happened,” he said.
“I was working on my batting during IPL. Whenever I get a chance, I go to the nets and work on technique and shot selection.”
(With PTI inputs)
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