Congratulating team India for the series win over England, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has said the Indian team has found a gem in the form of Kedar Jadhav.
With Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s finishing abilities diminishing, India have been desperate to get a player who can finish off the games and Jadhav has proved his credentials with a stellar batting performance against a quality bowling attack. Coming in at number six, the right-handed batsman displayed his immense hitting potentials in all three matches against England. In the first match, he scored 120 off only 76 balls to help India chase down a mammoth 351 while in the third match, his 75-ball 90 took India agonisingly close to a win. In the second match, he did not get too many balls but scored 22 off only 10 balls to help the team score some quick runs towards the end.
Speaking to NDTV, Gavaskar said:
“He is a finisher and looking good at No.6. I think India have found a gem in that position.”
“The good thing is that captaincy has not affected Virat Kohli’s batting and we need him more as a batsman than a captain,” the former captain said of Virat Kohli who won his first ODI series as India captain.
Meanwhile, the former opener sounded concerned over India’s poor death bowling. The hosts had conceded over 300 in all ODIs and were particularly poor in the final 10 overs. Virat Kohli’s bowlers had conceded 115, 97 and 96 runs in the final 10 overs of the three matches which allowed the visitors to pile huge scores.
“Death bowling is still a concern for the Indian team but other than that the team is doing quite well, be it batting or fielding. Now, we don’t need to hide any fielder and everyone is contributing, which is a very positive thing,” Gavaskar said.
Another area of concern that he pointed out was the lack of contribution from the top order. In absence of Rohit Sharma, India have tried several openers but none of them has managed to score big. Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane scored a total of only 37 runs in the three-match series as India had to rely solely on their middle-order batsmen to get a good score.
India is still looking undecided on the opening pair and with the Champions Trophy being the next 50-over assignment, they do not have any option to try out different players. However, Gavaskar said he would go for out of form Shikhar Dhawan to partner Rohit Sharma at the top.
“India have not started well in all the three matches. Virat Kohli or MS Dhoni are not going to score in every matches and someone needs to take the responsibility. Openers lack of form has been a worry but I think once Rohit Sharma is fit, he will be the automatic choice and I would still go for Shikhar Dhawan as the second opener,” Gavaskar concluded.