After plying his trade at the domestic level for over eight years, Kedar Jadhav made his international debut in ODI in 2014. He scored 20 in that game and had to wait for eight months to get a second chance. That chance came in the three-ODI series in Zimbabwe with most of the first-choice batsmen being rested. In the first two matches he managed 5 and 16.
But Jadhav’s time finally came. In the third ODI, the 30-year-old batsman from Maharashtra notched up his maiden ODI ton – a 105 off 87 balls – to help India finish the clean sweep with an 83-run win.
“It was a great opportunity and that’s what I took it as,” Jadhav said after the match. “I knew it would be challenging here, so I was prepared for that and I always knew it wouldn’t be easy to score in every game. I told myself that whenever I get going, I will stay until the end and make sure that my team wins. I’m happy that today I’ve got in, settled and then carried through to the end.”
Jadhav walked in at No. 6 with India on 82 for 4 in the 22nd over. He had debutant Manish Pandey for company, and the two of them resurrected the innings with a 144-run stand. Jadhav bid his time before going into an attack mode.
“The ball was doing a bit so that is why we couldn’t play our shots early in the innings,” he said. “But it was good that Manish was going nicely so it gave me some time to adjust to the wicket. Later on when I got set I played some shots.”
His shots included 12 fours and a six. After settling down and getting his groove, Jadhav took the attack on to the Zimbabwean bowlers to help add 116 runs to the team’s total in the final 10 overs. He later said that the hosts need to work on their death bowling to have a greater chance of winning more games.
“I feel on these pitches they are pretty effective but in some other parts of the world they have to work on some areas. I feel especially the death bowling is where they need to improve,” he said.
The common factor in all three wins for India was a big partnership despite low scores from other batsmen. Acknowledging that, Jadhav said the fact that India managed 260-plus in ever game despite batting first in bowling friendly conditions was what gave them the win in each match.
“We never felt that it will be a 3-0 scoreline. We always knew that they would be tough to beat on their home soil. It was challenging, especially batting first in all three games, but our batters did an excellent job to put up a 250-plus score in every game. That’s where I feel we won the games,” he said.
