IPL 2021: Ravindra Jadeja says, 'I was just backing my strength'

IPL 2021: R Jadeja says, ‘I was just backing my strength’ after match-winning innings: Ravindra Jadeja who architectured Chennai Super Kings’ two-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday stated that transition to T20 format after playing Test cricket was ‘difficult’.

Ravindra Jadeja single-handedly took the game away from Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their Indian Premier League encounter at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium after he scored 22 runs off the 19th over as Prasidh Krishna looked on haplessly. With the victory, CSK returned to the top of the table. Ravindra Jadeja who was adjudged player of the match in the post-match presentation said, “It is difficult. You have been playing Test cricket for five months and suddenly you have to come and play whiteball cricket. It was difficult.”

IPL 2021: R Jadeja says, ‘I was just backing my strength’ after match-winning innings

“In the nets also I was working my batswing. So I was thinking whatever I have done in the nets I have to repeat in the match. The runs I got in the second last over was more important than the wicket because that was match-winning for us,” he pointed.

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“Everybody does their team role. Rutu, Faf, they gave us a good start, That’s what you need as a team, you need to be collective as a team. I was just backing my strength. I knew he had fine leg and square leg up, so he was going to bowl a wide yorker or a slower ball. So I was waiting for that and he bowled a slower length ball and I was ready, luckily I connected off the middle of the bat and we are on the winning side today,” he added.

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Needing 26 off the last two overs, CSK took two singles of the first two balls off Prasidh’s over before Jadeja went berserk. He hit a six over the long leg, followed it with a straight six, then a square drive for a boundary and then one at third man. By the time the 19th over ended, CSK needed just 4 more runs to make it three consecutive wins.

IPL 2021: R Jadeja says, ‘I was just backing my strength’ after match-winning innings

While Narine did pick two wickets in the 20th over — Sam Curran and Jadeja — but it just wasn’t enough at the end of the day as Jadeja had already done the damage in the previous over. In the end, he finished with 22 off 8 balls.

Dhoni the captain of CSK said, “It’s a very nice victory to have. What we’ve seen in cricket is at times you play good cricket and lose the game, while at times you don’t really play well but still if you win the game – it’s slightly more enjoyable for the simple reason that you’ll still address the mistakes but going back one and a half hours to Dubai you’ll be in a better mood. So a terrific game at the end of the day. It was good cricket from both sides and it was a pleasure for the spectators.”

Cricket