IPL 2017, Match 5, RCB v DD: CT Player of the match

Kedar Jadhav hit 69 runs off just 37 balls with 5 fours and 5 sixes.

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Kedar Jadhav
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Kedar Jadhav. (Photo Source: Twitter)

Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman Kedar Jadhav played the much needed match saving knock for his team in the fixture against the Delhi Daredevils. RCB were without the services of two of their best batsmen in the squad – Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. Obviously, the onus was on the other batsmen in the line up and everyone was looking up to them in the match.

Jadhav has been one of the most underrated players for not just the country but also for his franchise. In fact, he has been an unused or rather misused commodity as well. Now, with the absence of big guns in the side, the stage was all set for the big heart player. He got the opportunity to seize the game and he did it in some style.

RCB lost the wicket of their star opener Chris Gayle early on in the innings as the talismanic Caribbean player hit one straight in the air. Mandeep Singh, the new man in, hit three classy boundaries but then succumbed to the pace of Pat Cummins. In walked Kedar Jadhav to join skipper Shane Watson at the crease in the 6th over of the match. What followed next was absolute carnage from the Maharashtra lad. He bludgeoned the opposition bowling to help the team get to a decent total on the board.

He is the CT Player of the Match for the RCBvDD encounter at Bengaluru. Had their not been a resistant and a defining knock from him, the match would have gone in the favor of the opposition.

Keeping the scorecard ticking

One of the key aspects of his knock today was he did not let the fall of wickets impact the scorecard. He ensured the runs kept coming despite all odds. When he came in to bat, one ball of the powerplay was remaining. Pat Cummins came in running and bowled a jaffa at 154 kmph. Jadhav did not have the best of the welcomes at the crease but he managed to digest the pressure with ease.

Perhaps it was his experience that came in handy for him on the day. He then batted along with Stuart Binny for a brief while and took the responsibility of doing the bulk of the scoring. In a way, he also shielded Binny from being targeted by the opposition bowlers. In the middle overs, the runs were hard to come by with veteran Indian spinner Shahbaz Nadeem bowling very tight lines. Even in those overs, Jadhav played sensibly enough to see the overs through and kept the score card moving constantly.

Taking the attack to the opposition

Time and again, Jadhav hit the odd boundaries to not le the bowlers dominate the proceedings. Barring a brief phase when the spinner was in charge, there was no moment in the match when Jadhav did not look attacking. He took the counter attack to the opposition even though the wickets kept falling at regular intervals from the other end. He paraded along and raced past his fifty run mark.

The calculated shots were well in the positions where there were no fielders. Seeing that the straight boundaries were short, he took full bounty of the straighter boundaries to clobber a couple. He ended up with a score of 69 runs off 37 balls with 5 sixes and as many fours during his stay at the crease. His efforts saw RCB post 157/8 in their 20 overs which gave the bowlers some total to defend.

He gets a rating of 4/5 for his superlative performance on the day and the fans would love to see such entertainment coming from his bat in the days to come as well.

Kedar Jadav RCB IPL

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