Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) made a shock decision when they replaced an injured overseas player David Willey with former Indian cricketer Kedar Jadhav. The move is understandable as RCB need more firepower in the middle over in a top-heavy batting lineup which has skipper Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell. Until recently, Jadhav was doing Marathi commentary for Jio Cinema but midway through the season he got a call from RCB head coach Sanjay Bangar.
"I was doing commentary and Sanjay Bangar called me asking what are you doing, I said I am doing commentary, he said are you practicing and I said yeah, twice a week. So he asked fitness wise and I said gym and all I am doing in my hotel so I am in shape. He said give me some time, I'll call you back. That moment only I realized that he is about to call me and tell me that I want you to come and play for RCB," said Jadhav in a video shared by RCB on May 4.
Jadhav had a base price of Rs 1 crore but he wasn’t picked by any franchise in the auction. The 38-year-old thanked RCB for giving him the opportunity.
"Absolutely surprised, but a pleasant surprise, very exciting opportunity so I wanted to thank the support staff for giving me this opportunity to join the team and make sure I give my 110 percent," Jadhav added.
Jadhav has played in 93 IPL matches and scored 1,196 runs at an average of 22.15 including four half-centuries. He has a strike rate of 123.17.
Jadhav had joined the RCB squad when they took on Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) which ended with controversy as Kohli got involved in a verbal spat with mentor Gautam Gambhir and their Afghan recruit Naveen-ul-Haq.
Before getting the call, Jadhav had a good domestic season scoring 555 runs at an average of 92.50 from four games for Maharashtra in Ranji Trophy 2022-23.
"I took a break for an year but then I realised that I was missing my passion and when I came back in first class cricket, I found it very easy to be honest because of all the experience I have, the hunger was there which was in the early 20's, the hunger to score big runs was there and that's when I felt I can now come back and play again at all the levels and when I've prepared for it, I've always performed well," he added.
It will be interesting to see if Jadhav gets a chance in RCB’s middle-order when they take on Delhi Capitals (DC) at Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium on May 6.
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