Ravindra Jadeja recounted why the Indian innings declared just before his double century.

Ravindra Jadeja could easily have scored his double century against Sri Lanka on Saturday, but the Indian all-rounder sent the message to declare innings as he wanted his team to take advantage of “variable bounce and spin”. Jadeja (175 not out of 228 balls) completed her second test century and earned a career-high score from him when India declared his innings at 574 for eight. He kept Sri Lanka’s attack in jest by hitting 17 fours and three sixes in his innings.

Jadeja had a chance to score a double century, but the player said he knew it was the ideal time to declare a tackle as it would have given him the opportunity to play a session in difficult conditions for the opposing side. Jadeja said after the end of the second day’s game: “I told him that there is a ‘variable bounce’ on the field and the balls have started to spin. So I sent a message that some help can be obtained from the field and suggested that we should get him to bat now.

“He was already tired of playing five sessions in two days. So it wasn’t easy for him to hit big shots as soon as he came in and keep hitting for a long time. So the plan was to call the innings early and take advantage of the tired hitters in the opponent. He said, “When I was batting, there were some balls that spun and stayed low. The pitch had its own ‘variation’. ,

Rather, the pitch also helped him get the ground from rival captain Dimuth Karunaratne. He said: “The plan was to keep the ball on the stump and if we had to I would have gone straight or made a turn from there. And the same thing happened. My first ball (to Karunaratne) turned and on the second ball I thought that he would pitch on the fourth stump and if he turned or went down, there was always a chance to take a wicket.

Jadeja added 130 runs for the seventh wicket with Ravichandran Ashwin (61 from 82 balls) and then shared an unbroken 103-run partnership for the ninth wicket with Mohammed Shami (20 no out from 34 balls). Regarding his century, he said: “Whenever I play for India, I try to improve my game in every game. When I have the opportunity to score runs, I try to convert the opportunity into performance, so I am very happy.