OTD | Kedar Jadhav belligerence led India to their 7th Asia Cup title in 2018

On the 17th of this month, the Indian team became the Champions of Asia by lifting the Asia Cup for the record 8th time. Team India bagged their previous title in the continental tournament on this day in 2018. It was Kedar Jadhav, whose all-round performance took India to continental glory under the stand-in leadership of Rohit Sharma. 

The Indian team went into the 2018 Asia Cup with a relatively young side, in the absence of Virat Kohli. Rohit was given the charge as the captain. The Indian team had managed to cruise through the Group Stage and Super 4s with dominating performances except for the match against Afghanistan, which was tied. 

Final Encounter: 

The Indian team met a buoyant Bangladesh side, who had managed to beat the likes of Pakistan and Sri Lanka to make its way to the final. On the day of the final, the Indian captain won the toss and elected to field first and chase the target subsequently, which India had been doing on most of the occasions in that tournament. 

Bangladesh got off to a thunderous start with Litton Das and Mehdy Hasan Miraz dominating the Indian quicks. The opening pair put 120 runs on the board before Kedar Jadhav gave the breakthrough to India by dismissing Miraz, who was looking solid but played a very steady knock. Jadhav sent him back on the score of 32 off 59 deliveries. 

The all-rounder’s impressive day with the ball had more in the store for Indian fans. He did not allow Bangladesh to recover from the initial setbacks as he scalped the important wicket of experienced Mushfiqur Rahim. Jadhav finished with economical figures of 2/41 in 9 overs. Dismissals at regular intervals played a crucial part in restricting Bangladesh to a low total of 222 in just 48.3 overs. 

Kedar Jadhav: the savior with the bat: 

When India came out to chase the target, they got off to a quick start but slow left-arm orthodox Nazmul Islam sent Shikhar Dhawan back which put the brakes on the Indian chase. This initiated the downfall of the Indian batting lineup. Dinesh Karthik and MS Dhoni tried to stabilize the ship and progressed with a resilient partnership. That partnership was broken by Mahmudullah and at one point India was reeling with half of the side in the dressing room on the score of 167.

Then came Jadhav, who already had a great time with the ball in the first innings. With some help from Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, he took India over the line. He played a small but match-defining innings of 23 runs. His heroic knock even when he was struggling with a hamstring injury inspired the team to victory in a close encounter. In testing conditions, he rose to the occasion and brought the Asian Glory to the Indian shores. 

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