Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja credited former Indian skipper, MS Dhoni after he played a flashy knock of a 50-ball 66 against Australia in the third and final ODI. Jadeja came to bat when the Men in Blue were reeling at 152/5 after 32 overs. But from there on, he put on a brilliant unbeaten partnership of 150 runs with Hardik Pandya, who scored 92 runs off 76 balls.
Jadeja stated that the 39-year-old Dhoni has often advised him to bat deep into the game until the last five overs when a lot of runs can be scored. In the last 10 overs, India scored 110 runs, taking their eventual score to 302. The Saurashtra-born all-rounder said that playing alongside Dhoni has helped him to a large extent in learning the art of being strategic.
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Describing the same during the post-match interview with Sony Sports, Jadeja said, “Absolutely, Mahi Bhai has played for such a long time for India and Chennai and he has a set pattern that he tries to build a partnership with whichever batsman is playing and once he gets set, he looks to play the big shots. So, in my opinion, looking at him batting so many times in such situations and I have played with him as well.”
He further added, “He tells me that if we take the match to the end, then a lot of runs can come in the last four to five overs. So, it was the same situation today and that is what we tried, Hardik and I were talking that we can take a chance in the last five overs as one side was short, so that was the plan.”
During the partnership, Pandya was the one, who started playing the big shots. In the last five overs, Jadeja increased the momentum as well. At a stage when a score around the 260-run mark was tough to achieve, the duo shouldered the visitors to the massive score.
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India went on to win the game by 13 runs at the Manuka Oval in Canberra. Though they had already lost the ODI series prior to the match, the victory would be giving them confidence going into the three-match T20I series.
