Kedar Jadhav explains how MS Dhoni's masterstroke changed his career

MS Dhoni is a man of many minds. He doesn’t like to show it and holds a calm demeanour on the field. But every now and then, the veteran is busy finding the hidden talents in his teammates. In the same way, Dhoni found the rare bowling talent in Kedar Jadhav. It was during the New Zealand ODI series that he wanted Jadhav to bowl and then surprised everyone by handing him the ball during the match. The result was the wickets which unsettled the comfortable looking opposition.

Jadhav, before coming into the Indian team, had bowled less than three balls on an average in every game. Somehow, Dhoni thought of trying him out with the ball in the nets and he bowled a few deliveries which quietly convinced the then skipper of Team India. Jadhav had only nine wickets to his name until then in all the representative form of the game.

However, playing for India, he now had 19 scalps in 23 ODIs and amazingly, he is in the team as a potential number six and a finisher which he does very well at the first hand.

My life has completely changed

Kedar Jadhav once again proved his worth against Pakistan and returned with the magical figures of 3/23 in nine overs which opened up the game completely. Happy with his bowling, he recalled how MS Dhoni had handed him the ball during the New Zealand series and admitted that his life has changed since then.

“If you’ve to play in the Indian team, as long as you keep contributing, you should be happy. Since the time Dhoni asked me to bowl in the New Zealand series, my life has completely changed and I feel confident about it,” Jadhav said. “My bowling is all about trying to read the batsman. My plan is to bowl stump-to-stump if you score, it’s fine but if you miss, wickets are there for me,” he was quoted as saying by Times Now.

However, Jadhav also cleared that he doesn’t bowl much in the nets and tries to keep it simple whenever the captain brings him on. “Honestly, I bowl one or two overs before the match at training. I don’t bowl much at the nets. I feel if I try and become a bowler, I will lose whatever I have. So I stay within limits. Upfront when your fast bowlers bowl well, that means batsmen will try to score runs off the spinners. It gives us more opportunities to take wickets, so it works,” he added.

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