The game was in the balance when Kedar Jadhav walked into bat halfway through the 24th over of the first One-dayer against Australia.
The visitors fell short of their own expectations in posting 236 for seven, but on a wicket where the odd ball tended to stop, batting called for patience as much as enterprise, given the fact that India had a target to chase down on Saturday.
That India finished at 240 for four was in the main due to Jadhav¡¯s unbeaten 81 and his unbroken 141-run partnership with MS Dhoni, who was not out on 59.
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The Maharashtra batsman was not part of the team that lost the T20I series, but he proved equal to the task walking in after Rohit Sharma succumbed to the vagaries of the wicket.
¡°It¡¯s good to be consistently playing for India and doing well,¡± Jadhav said. ¡°Everybody is encouraging towards me irrespective of how many times I have got injured. Everytime I have got fit, I have walked into the team.
Credit goes to the captain and management for backing me in my difficult times and this is my time that I pay back to the confidence and faith they have shown in my difficult times,¡± added the man of the match.
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The diminutive No.6, a contender for one of the few World Cup slots still to be finalized, took time to gauge the wicket and once set, ensured he took India home with 10 deliveries to spare. Slowly but steadily, the duo gnawed at the Aussie attack, pushing and prodding, and just when the ask got stiff, unleashed the big ones, almost at will.
¡°It¡¯s more than one and half or two years since I batted at No. (6). Till 2017 January against England in India, I batted at No.6. From thereon, the management was looking at me as a finisher.
They have clearly told me that you will be batting at No. 6 till the time you are there. So the management and team has been clear about everybody¡¯s role and everybody is clear about what is expected of individual players.¡±
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Jadhav had done his reputation as a partnershipbreaker no harm by getting rid of a dangerous-looking Marcus Stoinis.
¡°I never thought of bowling 10 overs in a game as of now. If the situation demands and the teams requires, I can definitely do. But doing consistently, it will take mental adjustment and physically I need to adjust. I¡¯ve not grown up bowling a lot of overs. As of now I¡¯m not thinking of bowling 10 overs. I don¡¯t think I¡¯m a bowler,¡± he said.