Chennai: Kedar Jadhav is as multifaceted a cricketer as you could hope to feast your eyes on in this age of specialisation. Though it was his love for wielding the willow and making the fielders run ragged that helped him make heads turn and open the doors for an India debut, he has as much penchant for the other facets of the game.
Throw him the big gloves if your regular wicket-keeper is injured and he would accept the task with the pleasure of a child receiving a toffee. If there is a censorious captain who would want to test his skills with the ball before labeling him as a utility player, all he needs to do is just toss the sphere to him and he wouldn’t think twice about rolling up his sleeves to take the challenge head-on.
One underlying theme that made itself all too apparent to ignore is how the 31-year-old doesn’t baulk at being asked to embrace challenges. To the contrary, the tag of ‘finisher’ is something that sits merrily well with him as was clearly evident during the recent 3-2 one-day series win against the visiting New Zealanders.
“I can be a finisher. Over the last two to three years, whenever I played for India ‘A’, the selectors wanted me to bat at number 5 or 6. I have become used to batting there for India as well and I think it suits my style as I have the freedom to play my shots,” says Jadhav, who is in the city to represent Maharashtra in the ongoing Ranji Trophy match.
