Kedar Jadhav played a stupendous knock against Australia in the series decider match at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). When other batsmen were finding it tough to bat, Kedar was scoring easily. He took his time initially and after examining the pitch well, the Maharashtra batsman eased the pressure off his batting partner MS Dhoni.
Jadhav scored 61* runs off 57 balls and he was only the second batsman in the game to score runs with a strike rate of over 100 after Australia's Glenn Maxwell. On the other end, Dhoni scored 87* runs in a chase of 231.
Though Kedar didn't get man of the match award as Yuzvendra Chahal, the leggie picked up 6 wickets in the match and was the strongest contender to win the award, but he got featured on 'Chahal TV'. Last time it was Virat Kohli who made an appearance in the BCCI.TV's post-match show hosted by Chahal.
Talking about the 121-run stand between him and Dhoni, Jadhav said, "I feel really good, winning the one-day series after the Test series. The good feeling going into the World Cup which is just a few months away. The way this team is shaping up, I'm just enjoying being in this team. Every individual has put his hand up whenever the team has needed it, that's the best part.
"This was my first match here and the last of the series. So I wanted to spend as much time in the middle as possible. Normally I score at a strike rate of 100 so I knew if I stay till the end we will get closer to the target. The biggest factor was I had Mahendra Singh Dhoni at the other end.
"Whenever I had any questions in my mind I would look at him and get my answers. Batting becomes easier whenever he is at the other end. It's like your batting with two heads and one head is his. That is always an advantage."
Revealing about the discussion both batsmen had during the game, he further said, "We discussed which bowler to target and after how many overs whenever there was a 10-15 balls gap between the runs required and deliveries left to play. And how do we reduce that gap. We calculated all that and the numbers changed after every over."
Like Kohli, Chahal asked Kedar to promote the show. "Chahal TV has already crossed seven seas to reach here in Australia and I will try to take Chahal TV to the moon now," Jadhav signed off.
(With BCCI.TV Inputs)
