Kedar Jadhav made the cricketing fraternity take note of his unorthodox bowling action. He has credited Anil Kumble and MS Dhoni for the improvisation and helping him nurture the skill. It was in the year 2016 when Jadhav rolled his arm over against New Zealand, which caught everyone’s eyes.
His deliveries stayed low, and batters had to counter them below their knee roll. A wide-arm action helped him angle in the ball, and it resulted in breakthroughs. Jadhav has picked 27 wickets from 73 ODIs. He spoke to his fans on the official Instagram handle of Chennai Super Kings and revealed how his bowling got better with each passing day. He said that he was taken to the cleaners initially and that made him tweak his action. His off-cutters and variation in pace bluffed the finest of batters and solidified his spot in the Indian side.
Kedar Jadhav on how MS Dhoni encouraged him to bowl at the international circuit
“It was in 2016, October or November when I got picked for the NZ home series. MS was captain, he asked me to bowl a few overs. I started bowling off-spinners. People go after part-timers. After bowling a few overs, I got bored that everyone was hitting me.” he said.
“I got bored and I tried a round arm. That time Anil bhai was coach, the first ball I bowled was around, Amit Mishra was batting. Mishy thought it’s a wide, he left the ball. Bal landed on the stumps and he was plumb in front. Mishy said I was chocking but let it get covered by coaches.”
He credited Anil Kumble for helping him iron out the kinks in his bowling. He advised Jadhav to keep his arm above the shoulder level and at the same time bowl as low as possible- as that would make it tough for the batters.
The 35-year-old tasted early success in Dharamshala when he got the better of Jimmy Neesham. He said ‘Anil Bhai’ helped him remodel his action while Dhoni gave him ample confidence to have a go at the opposition.