17 January,2017 08:27 AM IST | | PTI
India captain Virat Kohli heaped praise on his young teammate Kedar Jadhav for his outstanding knock of 76-ball 120 in the first ODI against England, describing it as one of the best calculative innings he had seen
Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli is ecstatic after Sunday's win over England
Pune: India captain Virat Kohli heaped praise on his young teammate Kedar Jadhav for his outstanding knock of 76-ball 120 in the first ODI against England, describing it as one of the best calculative innings he had seen. Kohli (122 off 105 balls) and Jadhav, whose 120 was his career-best, smashed superlative hundreds to help India chase down the stiff target of 351 for a three-wicket win in the first of the three-match ODI series on Sunday.
'Outstanding' knock
"One word for it is outstanding. He (Jadhav) put a lot of pressure on the spinners. It was one of the best calculative innings I have seen⦠the 150 strike rate was outstanding. Some of the shots he played, he said they were instinctive. I could not believe it," Kohli said. Kohli and Jadhav rattled up a 200-run partnership for the fifth wicket to set up the win. Jadhav struck 12 fours and four sixes in his aggressive innings.
Loss to NZ hurt
Jadhav was disheartened that he could not get the team past the victory line against NZ in the previous ODI series. "He was disheartened versus NZ that he could not get the team across the line (in Ranchi). I told him there was no point thinking what you could have done and told him to keep pushing hard," said Kohli.
Asked how he and Jadhav tackled what looked like a hopeless situation with four top batsmen back in the hut for a mere 63 runs in the 12th over, Kohli said they decided to counter-punch their way.
