BIRMINGHAM: India’s Kedar Jadhav had six career wickets in one day internationals before Thursday’s Champions Trophy semifinal against Bangladesh but it was his very occasional off-spin proved to be decisive in his team’s win. Skipper Kohli said he had turned to Jadhav simply to try to slow down Bangladesh’s progress but his plan bore unexpected fruit.
“The wickets were honestly a bonus, Hardik (Pandya) went for a few in his first three, so we wanted to give him a bit of a break and cover up overs through Kedar, and with one left-hander batting, we knew that he had the ability to get in two, three, dot balls to the left-hander every over. But it ended up changing the whole game for us,” he said.
Kohli though was reluctant to accept praise for the inspired decision, which resulted in figures of two for 22 off six overs for Jadhav, saying that former captain and wicket-keeper MS Dhoni had helped in the idea.
“I won’t take the whole credit. Obviously I asked MS, as well, and we both decided that Kedar is a good option at that moment, and he bowled really well.
Jadhav also had words of praise for Dhoni who he said helped him read the batsmen on the field. — Reuters
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