Kedar Jadhav's homecoming flourishes on Virat Kohli's seeds
It was a question of when rather than how would the new Indian captain rub off on his teammates. That it would happen in the first game itself was unexpected. If we keep Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya aside and focus on the 35-year-old Mahendra Singh Dhoni, we'd find that there was every bit of the intent that Virat Kohli expects out of his team.
The first delivery that Dhoni faced was a length ball wide of off stump. At three down, and with the kind of change that was expected in Dhoni's style of play, one would have assumed that he'd leave that one alone. But this was Kohli's Dhoni – pardon me for the pun – and he simply had to slash at it.
He missed the ball by a distance, Ben Stokes was momentarily excited, and after quite some time, it looked as if Dhoni was out there without the responsibilities on his mind. The shot that cost him his wicket was played with a similar intent, and when the grand old man of the team resorts to adolescence, the young men simply have to fall in line.
But not everyone in the team had the cushion and the legacy that the greatest captain of all time had. Even the GOAT only just had it. That's another significant change that Kohli had ushered in. Hence, at 63/4, Kedar Jadhav had every reason in the world to play as well as he did. That he did manage to do so was an occasion of unforeseen brilliance.
The ground with the size of a 'postage stamp,’ as mentioned by Nasser Hussain, doesn't help in a chase of 350 with your side four down in the 11th over. Shikhar Dhawan and Yuvraj Singh have played more than 400 ODIs between them. Add Dhoni's numbers, and you would reach 600.
Kohli had mentioned that Yuvraj was included in the side to give the middle-order some experience. Hence, when the left-handed batsman poked at an innocuous delivery outside leg stump – for the third time in his innings, only to get a feather on it this time as it flew almost undisturbed into Jos Buttler's hands – the remainder of the Indian middle-order was left with an experience of 18 ODIs.
Of the 13 matches that Jadhav had played before Pune, seven were against Zimbabwe in 2015 and one against Sri Lanka in 2014. The only full series that he got before this was the last one that India played and where he made the news for his bowling rather than his batting.
One series, though, is a good enough ksample space in any cricket team, let alone that of India. This was the backdrop against which the 31-year-old walked out to bat with his side chasing a monument with a molehill-like total at the loss of four of their best batsmen.
Kohli, who was batting on 28 at the time, wasn't expected to score 200 of the 289 runs that were needed. Someone had to score a supporting ton. Expecting that out of a lower-middle-order with 18 matches under their belt would have been like asking Alastair Cook to bat like Kevin Pietersen.
Jadhav, though, went one step ahead. If you are batting with Kohli, you must bat like Kohli. On a night when a run-of-the-mill surrender looked inevitable, Jadhav batted like his captain. Strokes were matched with strokes, perhaps not so much the running, and by the 23rd over, Jadhav had completed his fifty off just 29 balls, as opposed to his captain, who got it in 44.
The home-town boy had not just matched Kohli shot-for-shot, but he had also outpaced him. England went from Stokes to Chris Woakes, to Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, and back to Stokes, without much avail.
There were jitters, of course, when Kohli hit the ball straight to the fielder and tried to invent a run. He didn't like it when Jadhav sent him back from the other end. You see, there is a thin line between being ambitious and being presumptuous, and on that night, Kohli had crossed the line on several occasions.
In those moments of unforced foolhardiness, Jadhav had to be the senior pro. He might have copped some words from his captain, but he made the King stick to his throne just a little bit longer. Jadhav wasn't only batting for himself, he was batting for his captain as well.
By the halfway stage, the duo had already added 102 in less than 13 overs. Kohli brought up his hundred with a six over long-on in the 32nd over and by the end of that over, the asking rate was under 7. Jadhav brought up the supporting ton – call it supportive if you wish, it was brought up off 65 balls as opposed to Kohli's 93 – in the 36th with a deft cut towards third man.
If Kohli was the brash excitement in this innings, Jadhav was the silent assassin. 89 runs that required from 14 overs had made it India's game. 200 runs of the 289 that were needed at the time of Dhoni's dismissal were already scored, and Kohli had scored only half of them.
A human’s life traverses with the hope of converting heartbreaks into fairytales. Men spend ages chasing that eluding fantasy, and here were two men making that a reality, and making us believe that hope without conviction isn't forlorn at all.
Fairytales don't come easy, though, and on that night in Pune, there was a pinch of reality that inevitably had to be added to the mix. Kohli fell in the 35th over, and all of a sudden, the next three batsmen that India had – all proven talents at various levels – had only played 12 games between them over the past 12 months.
To add drama and melancholy to the spectacle, Jadhav started cramping, and there was a moment in the 38th over when he fell inside his crease after pulling a short ball towards deep midwicket.
The brewing pot now had several components. However, it wasn't dramatic at all for India's newly found hero. On two occasions the team's physio was out in the middle along with the substitute, Ajinkya Rahane, and the discussion would have been to leave the rest on the talented shoulders of Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja, and on the experienced ones of Ravichandran Ashwin, should any of the two fail.
But, this was Kohli's Jadhav. The seed his captain had sown in Adelaide back in 2014, and the one that had been nurtured for over two years now, had started exhibiting growth. Jadhav soldiered on. Rahane and the physio walked back to the dressing room, and the on-lookers had their breaths stuck in the gut for the second time in two overs.
The next ball that Jadhav faced was creamed over midwicket for a maximum. India loves its overnight heroes, and it loves them even more if they battle through a pain that's visible. The eulogy and the hypocrisy behind the statement is up for debate, but on that night in Pune India had a wounded warrior.
He pulled one more boundary in the next over, before pulling a ball straight into the hands of deep square leg. Jadhav was gutted, and the feelings were perhaps at par with what his parents would have felt – they were watching him from the stands – when he went down writhing in pain a couple of overs ago.
The equation was 60 off 60, and now, it was India's match to lose. However, the seed had done its work, at least for the night. It cannot be said whether India would do what they did in Pune the next time they find themselves at 63/4 chasing 351, but whenever that happens, there will be hope, with a minor sense of conviction and the anticipation of India finding a new hero.