Modest Jadhav credits bowlers

Kedar Jadhav, who played a match-winning unbeaten 81 against Australia in the opening ODI against Australia, lauded the bowlers for laying the foundation.

The Indian bowlers produced a brilliant collective performance to restrict the Aussies to 236/7 here at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Jadhav said he felt half the battle was won then.

“I definitely give credit to our bowlers to restrict the Australia line-up to under 240,” said man of the match Jadhav at the post-match press conference.

“Obviously, as a touring team, it is difficult to get into the groove from the first game. You have to adjust to the wicket and bounce, just like when the Indian teams travels to Australia. First one or two games, we have to adjust to the bounce.”

“I feel half the game was won when we restricted Australia (to under 240). The average score on the wicket is 235 even though the wicket was doing a little up and down. Another 30 runs and we could have batted differently.”

Jadhav, after curbing his natural attacking instincts at the start, opened his shoulders up after reaching his half-century.

Dhoni cramping

Incidentally, MS Dhoni was also cramping at the same time. When asked if he chose to take the risks because of Dhoni’s cramps, Jadhav said one of them had to play the big shots at that stage and he ended up taking ownership.

“Not really, between both of us, one had to take the risk. I have batted throughout my career at No 4, so I’m more open to playing all the shots.”

“Growing up, I’ve always built my batting by playing shots. When playing shots or trying some innovative shots, I feel I have a good chance of getting boundaries out of them.”

Aussie pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile felt Australians didn’t grab their chances.

“Close game, maybe 20-30 runs short with the bat. Again, a couple of half-chances we didn’t take. I thought we bowled pretty well and batted pretty well. It was a tough wicket. It would have been nice having a set batsman going into the last 10 overs. I found it really hard, actually,” he said.