Haven’t spoken anything about declaration: Jayant

Debutant Jayant Yadav, who had a good day with the bat and ball on Friday, said India have the upper hand and it would be an enormous task for England to chase it down. “We have a lead of close to 300 and we haven’t thought much about when and where to stop our innings. I would leave that to the management but it would be a tough call for England to chase. We have a consistent spin quartet and with a variable bounce, turn and the odd ball keeping low it will be difficult for England to chase any total easily,” Jayant said after the day’s play. 

The off-spinner said it was a proud moment to represent the country and cherished every moment of his batting and bowling. “Every player aspires to play top-level cricket as they graduate from the first-class level. Test cricket is the best chance to shine as a cricketer. There were nerves but the first day in the dressing room helped a lot. I have been travelling with the team for a while and I have gotten to know everyone. As I bowled the first over, my jitters vanished,” Jayant added.  

Jayant played against the likes of Alastair Cook when he was a part of a practice match the visitors played in 2012 and the Indian said there isn’t a lot of difference since then. “These are two contrasting times. In 2012, I was just playing my third or fourth first-class match. And now, there is an added pressure of playing for India. But my job remains the same. We have to score runs, take wickets and take catches to emerge victorious anywhere,” the 26-year-old added. 

Jayant credited Ravichandran Ashwin, with whom he shares a great rapport, for helping him out in the match. “We first met in 2014 when he was preparing for the England tour. It was sweet of him to share many inputs. We stayed in touch and he makes a lot of sense when we talk about spin bowling. In this match, he helped me on the various lines and lengths I could bowl to different batsmen and how to be consistent,” Jayant added.