Virat Kohli has backed him to the hilt whenever he has had injury issues and Kedar Jadhav feels that it’s time pay the captain back for all the faith the team management has showed in him.
Jadhav has had multiple breakdowns in the past due to a dodgy hamstring, which also included a near six month lay-off due to a surgery, last year.
“Obviously, the kind of confidence they have given has helped me deliver consistently. Credit goes to the captain and management for backing me in my difficult times and this is my time that I pay back to the confidence and faith they have shown in my difficult times,” Jadhav said after his 81 not out powered India to a six-wicket victory against Australia in the first ODI.
“Everybody has been encouraging towards me irrespective of how many times I have got injured you know. Every time I have got fit, I have walked into the team. That is the kind of confidence that the team management has in me,” said Jadhav.
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The Maharashtra all-rounder said that the team management has already specified to him that he is their designated “finisher at No 6”.
“It’s more than one and half or two years that I have been batting at this number (No 6). I still remember in January, 2017 against England in India, I batted at No 6 only and got Man of the Series,” he said.
“From thereon, the team management has been looking at me as a finisher. They have clearly told me that you will be batting at No 6 till the time you are there. So the management and team had been clear about everybody’s role and everybody is clear about what is expected of individual players,” Jadhav said.
The middle-order batsman also said having Dhoni at the other end played an important role in his player-of-the-match performance, scoring a 87-ball 81.
“Every time I bat with him [Dhoni] and I spend time with him, I learn a lot,” Jadhav said. “I can’t put it out in words. Every time I see Mahi bhai, I feel very confident. That sort of aura is like, that you see him and feel that ‘I will deliver today’. He has the knack of getting the best out of every player and that’s what everybody loves about him.”
“The thing is, me and Mahi bhai have plans in our heads. We bat according to that plan. And the plan was to not give him [Zampa] a wicket because he was looking like one bowler who can take wickets. We need to give respect to him if he is bowling well. Obviously, he bowled well, bowled in the right areas with good speeds and good variations, so we had to give that respect,” Jadhav added.
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