“We have the calibre. There is not much difference between the teams. We just need to cut down on the errors,” said India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja here on Thursday.
It has personally been a fair series for the 25-year-old Saurashtra cricketer, but his team is down 3-0 with just a game left. Jadeja has scored 140 runs at 70 (strike rate 127.27) and picked up four wickets at an economy rate of 5.05.
On bowling in the conditions here, the left-armer said, “In India the ball turns and batsmen do not use their feet. But the ball does not spin much here and the batsmen use their feet which makes it tougher for us. Our role away from home is different. We have to adapt to the conditions.”
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Jadeja added, “In the last game, when there was some turn for us, Kane Williamson did not step out. We made it harder for them.”
India only lacked in coming up with the extra effort in the series, he felt. “If you look at the series, it has been close. And one game was tied. We just failed to do that extra bit.”
On his batting — the left-hander enabled India tie the third match at Auckland — Jadeja said he was now getting more overs to play himself in and open out.
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“I am not trying to bat differently. I am just playing my natural game,” said Jadeja.
New Zealand off-spinner Nathan McCullum said his side would go for a 4-0 series verdict. “When we started, we would have been happy with a simple series win. Now, we want a 4-0 result. We are fully focused on Friday’s match.”
The 33-year-old from Dunedin said New Zealand had been consistent in the series. “It helps when you cope well with different situations. The environment in the team is good.”
On bowling at the Indian batsmen who are good players of spin, Nathan said, “India has some excellent players of spin. It was a big challenge to bowl at them in my backyard on pitches that did not turn much and on small grounds.”
The off-spinner has just one wicket in the series but his economy rate of 4.91 has been creditable against the Indian batsmen.