Ravindra Jadeja who scored unbeaten 39 had the job of the finisher today and he had Shardul Thakur at the other end to finish off the match. Thakur who knows to bat a bit was at the crease, replacing the Indian captain Virat Kohli who capitalised on the start given by the Indian openers to score 85.
However, when Kohli left, India was needed a handful of runs with not so many wickets on the hand and the pressure was on Jadeja to take Team India home safe.
The left-hander went to Thakur and gave a piece of advice which helped out the latter well in the unbeaten 30-run partnership.
“I was only thinking that the wicket is nice and the ball is coming to the bat. ‘Just try to bat properly, don’t play silly shots, look to time the ball’ – his advice to Shardul.
“There was a bit of pressure, I hadn’t batted a lot in the series, but here I was under pressure to win a game. Virat just asked me to play my natural game. The score was reflecting on the scene, so I knew the situation well,” Jadeja said.
Chasing 316 to win, courtesy, Pooran and Pollard, India had a good start with both the openers scoring yet another fifty. However, the Indian middle-order failed to score big and Kohli once again was left stranded. Jadeja then came to Kohli’s rescue as he made sure to take team safe home and with that India ended 2019 with a series win.
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