'Wicket was shining like a mirror when they batted; turned and bounced when we did' - Ravindra Jadeja feels toss had effect in Guwahati Test

Ace India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has suggested that the toss had a role to play in how the second Test of the ongoing series between India and South Africa panned out. India were set a mammoth target of 549 in the final Test of the red-ball leg of the all-format series.

Jadeja pointed out that the Barsapara Cricket Stadium pitch was much better for batting during the first two days of the contest. He also underscored how the nature of the pitch drastically changed over the course of the match and it started to help spinners by a significant degree.

See, honestly, as a bowler, when we were bowling for the first two days, there were no marks on the wicket. The wicket was shining like a mirror. When they came to bowl, because of the wicket taken by the fast bowler, the spinners came into play more. Their balls were turning and bouncing. The situation matters a lot in cricket. If it were the other way around, if we were 300 runs ahead and they came to bat, then it's possible that we would have won by a large margin,” stated Jadeja, as quoted by The Hindu.

The veteran cricketer acknowledged the role that the toss played. According to Jadeja, the tourists' spinners were able to garner a lot more help from the surface.

“Winning or losing the toss is part of the game. But, the effect is there on the game. When you are bowling for the first time, when nothing is happening on the wicket, then you will feel that the spinners are normal and ordinary. But, when you are 300 runs ahead and you are bowling, then you will see every bowler will seem big. It’s like that. Hopefully, we won't think too much about what happened and what didn't,” he added.

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India already lost their opening batters by stumps on Day 4. They lost a further three wickets in the first session of the final day. All three of them were picked up by the Player of the Match from the series-opening clash Simon Harmer. The advantage lies firmly with the Proteas, who have already picked up eight out of 15 wickets while spin bowling. The remainder of the seven have been picked up by Marco Jansen.