Kedhar Jadhav: India's new-found finisher

“Do the right deeds and forget”, the phrase goes well with Kedar Jadhav whose swashbuckling innings turned out to be a decisive factor in helping India steal the show in the third and final ODI against Australia in Melbourne on Friday.

Losing Virat Kohli in the 30th over, with the required run-rate hovering around six an over, it was well turning the game into an intense finish, with both sides fancying their chances.

Jadhav came in to bat when India was struggling at 113 at the loss of 3 wickets with more than 100 runs still to get in 20 overs. Looking at the slow pitch in Melbourne and huge Australian grounds meant chasing 230 from that point would still be an uphill task.

However, the diminutive all-rounder had some other plans, clearing his intent right from the beginning. Playing his first international in Australia, Jadhav showed little nerves, batting positively from the first ball, wherein he was on his front foot, unlike the Aussies who clearly struggled in front of the Indian bowlers. His fluent stroke play mixed with terrific innovations indicated that he was not here to just guide the ball around, and ready to take on the opposition head-on.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni had started-off well and was striking the ball well enough but after Virat’s wicket he slowed down and just guided the ball around preserving his wicket for the last nail in the coffin, creating an unwanted pressure on Jhadav as the required run rate was continuously climbing up. There was an instance at the start of 48th over when the required run rate was 9 runs per over.

Jadhav struck two fours in the penultimate over and soothed the Indian nerves as the visitors inched towards victory. Kedar Jadhav scored 61 runs off 57 balls with a strike rate of 107 striking seven boundaries in his innings. On the other hand, every Indian batsman had a strike rate of less than 80.

An able finisher

From the batting perspective, this turned out to be a rare series that was not won by individual brilliance, as every batsman had contributed to the total and played according to the situations when required. The fact that MS Dhoni won the player of the series award despite not winning the player of the match awards in the three games aptly highlighting the team performance by the Indian batsmen.

Kedhar Jadhav's innings has its worth in gold as he not only played masterful innings, but his timely boundaries allowed Dhoni to ease up a little and play till the end with little risk. However, being a country where people worship individuals in a team sport, is an irony in itself. Jadhav's brilliance might have been overshadowed by Dhoni's consistency, but surely cannot be forgotten.

He has time and again showed an amazing temperament while finishing the games for his side - be it the Asia cup final in UAE or the opening game CSK won in a nail-biting encounter in 2018, Jadhav has been a constant in the moments of crisis. The Indian team management would all but hope he stays fit, as India surely have found an exciting prospect in the form of Kedar Jadhav, the finisher.