India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni feels that Ravindra Jadeja's 45-ball unbeaten 66 in the tied one-dayer against New Zealand will help the left-hander to develop into a more mature batsman.
"We are hoping that he (Jadeja) develops further as a batsman. The kind of talent that he has, we have seen him score plenty of runs in domestic the circuit. He just needs to get his thinking right and this innings should really help him do that," Dhoni said at the post-match media interaction here today.
He also praised Jadeja's controlled left-arm spin bowling on these unresponsive New Zealand tracks, stating, "He has been quite consistent as a bowler for us. Wickets haven't turned here at all, but usually left-arm spinners are able to get turn wherever they bowl".
For Dhoni, the positive aspect is the expsoure of such a big run-chases in alien conditions.
"This game is good exposure for the two (Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin) of them. There aren't many times that they have been in a situation like this. So this should help them grow as batsmen, especially Ashwin who has been working hard on his batting and he has a lot more to offer in batting department," he added.
The skipper was happy that the visitors have a chance to now draw level even if they can't win the series.
"The big thing for us was to stay alive in this series. This game could have gone either way at the point where we lost five wickets for 140-odd runs. It seemed we needed to work hard and hard work and application to win from there. Jadeja and Ashwin batted really well to take us where we are now and keep us alive in the series," said Dhoni.
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