Kedar Jadhav: India's misprized possession

Years ago, I remember listening to speculation about MS Dhoni’s undying trust in Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin long before they had reflected their caliber in records, there was criticism as well as a streak of belief, for we knew he knows what he’s doing. Quite similar is the case is with Virat Kohli backing certain players. We’ve seen that in the case of KL Rahul, who emerged as a man for all formats in the Team.

His subtle backing for youngster Sarfaraz Khan in the IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore showed us some brilliance in context of the raw talent we have among youngsters. And very recently, Kedar Jadhav has come into the limelight, and it is only fitting to dedicate a few words in his praise while his gem of a performance stays fresh in our cricketing minds.

Pune had been waiting for something special since the India v Sri Lanka T20 match in February 2016. They didn’t have many good memories to take back home then because India had lost to a team that was struggling to keep up with changing modern cricket.

But last night, they sure as hell didn’t know what was coming their way. Who knew their very own local boy would guide the Men in Blue home with the King by his side? And mind you, while majority of the cricketers are done by the age of 31, Kedar has just begun. Last night’s 120 off 78 against England was only his second 50 in ODIs. His maiden ODI hundred came up against Zimbabwe at Harare in 2015. Interestingly, both his hundreds got him the Man of the Match award.

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“Time’s not by his side”- no longer fits in today’s cricket as we see people of all ages swinging the willow. Why then, did Kedar have to wait for so long to show the world (rather, Indian cricket) what he’s got? He has been a known name in the domestic circuit since his fourth-highest aggregate-in-a-season performance in 2013-14 Ranji season where he scored 1223 and 6 centuries in the process.

His IPL career has been topsy-turvy but he has stuck to his reputation of being a “natural T20 player” for all the three IPL  franchises he has been associated with. We can all credit the IPL one more time for unearthing someone special. In Delhi Daredevils’ poor campaign in 2014, Jadhav was the silver lining as he earned a call-up in June ’14 in the series against Bangladesh.

His on and off relationship with the Indian squad seized as he surprised everyone by featuring in all five ODIs against New Zealand in October ’16. To see him get lucky by picking 6 wickets in that series was both amusing and alarming, for a faint question in our minds emerged, “Have we found a new all-rounder?”

His selection in the squad for the ODI series against England wasn’t surprising because he had done enough in the preceding series to earn that. However, to be included in the Playing XI in the very first ODI while someone like Ajinkya Rahane had to sit out was the big deal. Now again, the fact that he did the unfathomable in his first outing of the series was an even bigger deal. How often do you see a knock that looks shinier when the centurion on the other end is the master of chase, Virat Kohli itself?

He started cramping as he reached the 90s, but he kept backing himself and registered his century. Some beautiful moments were out there for us to see as the camera showed us a glimpse of the mother soaked in joy, the crowd beginning to chant and the warm hug between the two centurions where the mutual confidence to carry on together and the comfort in each other’s partnership reflected in the skipper’s body language.

After Kohli departed, he realized the importance of keeping the momentum alive and began muscling the ball as the cramps got worse and running was far from happening. To watch him hit the ball out of the boundary when he was struggling to stand must have elated everyone who believed in his abilities since the start.

Apart from a magnificent display, for a cricket lover, there was more to admire about the little man. The fact that even when the rare limelight he got was upon him this time, all he had to say was that he humbly owed a lot of it to the skipper and was happy to do it for the team and make his country proud.

He said, “I could play this long because of captain Virat Kohli. He has done it so many times, showing how to chase big totals. I missed many chances to bat with Virat and watch him bat closely in the past, so today was the chance.” While he spoke about the chances, in the back of my head, I only wished for us to get more chances to watch him and people like him perform like that.