India vs New Zealand | Competition for a single slot is good for any team, says Kedar Jadhav

After defeating Australia Down Under, India has continued to dominate even the series against New Zealand and have already won the first two matches of the five match ODI series. With the regulation allrounder of the team Hardik Pandya freed of suspension recently, he is likely to be included in the playing eleven soon. As the competition for the allrounder spot has really heated up Kedar Jadhav said that it is, in fact, a good thing as the player will have to keep putting in their best performance.

"It is the selector’s call and the best 15 will go. Everybody is trying to put their best foot forward and when you play for India, there is bound to be competition and you have to be at the top of your game,” Jadhav was quoted saying by PTI after the post match press conference.

“It helps when especially if Mahi Bhai is there till the last ball. All his experience and the power in his game, it helps players like us to just work around him and he takes most of the strike and scores most of the runs.”

Indian openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma gave India a 150 runs stand for the opening partnership. Sharma was also declared the man of the match for his 87 runs innings and Jadhav commended them and said that the openers do their jobs on most occasions which makes the job of the middle-order easier. 

Spinners continued to impress as Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal took six wickets between them to make the task easy for India. The duo has formed a lethal combo for India in the shorter formats and may become a handy weapon going into the World Cup.

“Kuldeep and Chahal are our key assets in middle overs and as a team, we back them totally. Most of the teams find it difficult to score against them and eventually if we put runs on the board, then teams have to take risk against them and that works for us,” said Jadhav.