CT 2017: Virat Kohli discloses why Kedar Jadhav was picked to bowl and not Yuvraj

It was a disappointing day for the Indian cricket team as they lost a key encounter against Sri Lanka in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy. A win in the game would have sealed their spot in the semi-finals of the tournament. However, it was a 7-wicket defeat that came their way on the day. Skipper Virat Kohli looked absolutely gutted at the defeat after the game.

He, however, lauded the efforts of the Sri Lankan team in the post match conference. Speaking to the media, he also reflected back at the key moments from the match. When the Sri Lankan batsmen were onsong, skipper Virat Kohli was found wanting for bowling options. He ended up rolling his arms in the match and also handed the ball to Kedar Jadhav.

Many pondered if Yuvraj Singh could have been given the ball too. When asked about the same, Kohli remarked that Ravindra Jadeja found it difficult bowling on the track and hence even Yuvraj would have felt the same. Also, he revealed that he had a discussion about the same with MS Dhoni. Dhoni recommended that Kedar Jadhav was a better option on the day.

“See, if the team is four or five down and you have to get few overs out of the way from the part-timer, then Yuvi can be used, but at that stage, I did not think — because Jadeja was also going for runs, and it was difficult to bowl with the breeze going that side to the shorter boundary. If Jadeja is finding it difficult, then obviously Yuvi would have found it a bit more difficult as well,” quoted Virat Kohli.

“I thought — I spoke to MS as well, and we both thought that Kedar was a better bet at that time. Then because in England, generally, if you bowl little seamers, then you can trouble the batsman. So I thought why not try a few overs there as well? So I think we covered up pretty well. Wicket is a bit more dry than, which obviously comes into contention and I don’t,” he added further.

On playing South Africa

With the defeat, team India sets up a virtual quarter-final clash against South Africa on Sunday. Talking about the same, Virat Kohli noted that the opposition is a strong side. Team India will try to come up with the best that they have. Kohli remarked that there is no room for complacency in the team at the moment and they are ready for the next challenge.

“Well, as I said, it’s pretty clear. It’s like a quarterfinal. It’s against a very high quality side, and we have to go out there and play good cricket. If we had won this game, we still would have gone with the same mindset of winning the tournament as well. So there’s no room for complacency in a tournament like this, and we as a team certainly don’t feel that, even if we had four points on the board right now, we still would have gone out there to try to beat South Africa, and that’s exactly the mindset we are going to take into the next game,” he quoted.