IRANI CUP 2014-15

Kedar Jadhav: We were fortunate to take first innings lead

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Jadhav scored 78 to help Rest of India take the first innings lead against Karnataka.
Jadhav scored 78 to help Rest of India take the first innings lead against Karnataka. © Cricbuzz

He was disappointed at missing out on a ton after doing a lot of hard work on a wicket that was difficult to bat on, but Rest of India batsman Kedar Jadhav gave credit to the Karnataka bowlers for bowling good lines while he also mentioned that his team was "fortunate" to take a first innings lead. ROI, who started day 2 at 20/1, kept losing wickets at regular intervals, but Jadhav's knock of 78 and some useful contributions from the lower order helped the side take a slender lead of 20 runs.

At the end of the day's play, Jadhav said batting was a bit difficult on a wicket that appeared two-paced, while he mentioned that Vinay Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun bowled brilliantly. "Yes, it was quite disappointing to miss out on a century on a big occasion, but the wicket was getting difficult towards the later half of the day. They were bowling pretty good, especially Vinay and Mithun.They both bowled brilliantly I felt. We were fortunate to take a lead of20 runs."

Jadhav added 80 runs for the seventh wicket with Jayant Yadav (26) to help ROI recover from a precarious 102/5. About the partnership, the middle-order batsman said it was crucial that they stayed at the middle, while he also mentioned that he was not too happy with the total ROI eventually posted.

"Batting fourth on this pitch will be difficult. In terms of that, the 80-run stand with Jayant after losing a few quick wickets was quite crucial," he said. "We are definitely not satisfied (with the total). We would have liked to have at least a lead of 50 to 100 runs. We know we have to bat fourth on this wicket, and it will be difficult. Therefore we are not satisfied, but at least we are happy that we crossed the line. We could have taken more lead so that we didn't have to chase too many runs in the last innings."

While it was a hard graft for most of the ROI batsmen, Jadhav appeared at ease during his stay at the middle and he managed to score at a brisk rate to keep the scorecard moving along. When asked about that, he said: "Basically I like to play my natural strokes. When I went in today, there were enough boundary balls. I wanted to convert them and was lucky enough to do so. Fortunately, I could make 78."

Jadhav did have a lucky break as he was put down by R Samarth off Vinay Kumar when he was on 34 and he capitalized on that to add some extra runs. Karnataka's leg-spinning allrounder Shreyas Gopal, who had three wickets against his name alongside Vinay and Mithun, agreed that it was a costly miss.

"I think Kedar's dropped catch was (crucial). He scored 40-50 runs from there. So, they would have been 40 runs short, maybe even more than that. Having said that, we have the batting for it and we have three more days in the game. If we can look to bat long then on the 4th, 5th day, it's going to be easy."

Jadhav's dropped catch was not the only miss as Rishi Dhawan also got a reprieve, although he did not capitalise on that. However, there was also a terrific catch during the day as Mayank Agarwal took a blinder to send Naman Ojha back. Shreyas agreed that Karnataka have dropped a few this season, but he also pointed out that they have held a few brilliant ones, and he said those outweigh the missed chances.

"I think we have fielded brilliantly. These dropped catches happen with every team. But, I've been part of this team for 12 matches now and I think we have taken some extraordinary catches. Not just looking at the dropped catches, if you look at Mayank's catch, that was a half chance. So, we are looking at the positives. Yes, we have dropped a couple of catches but we are looking at taking those catches whenever it comes next time."

Karnataka openers Mayank and Samarth managed to wipe out the deficit and remained unbeaten to take the hosts to 39/0 at the end of the day's play. Shreyas said ROI taking the first innings lead did not matter much in the context of the game, while he mentioned that Karnataka will look to bat for a day and a half and give the opposition a stiff target.

"It's just 20 runs lead and we have already gone past the deficit. So, if we can look to bat for 1.5 days, (it would put us in a good position). Fourth day, I'm pretty sure, at least towards the end, it will definitely start keeping low. So, I think our fast bowlers will definitely come into play there and we might get some turn as well,"Shreyas said.

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