Jadeja shines as India lose to NZ in practice match

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New Delhi: Ravindra Jadeja shone with his batting in India’s abysmal performance where they lost their first practice match against New Zealand at the Oval in London on Saturday.

In the absence of Vijay Shankar and Kedar Jadhav, India found a saviour in Ravindra Jadeja, who top scored with a 50-ball 54 to haul India to 179.

He added 62 on the board with Kuldeep Yadav for the eight wicket partnership, allowing India to reach the 40-over mark, a prospect that looked unlikely when Trent Boult ran through the top order. Hardik Pandya’s brisk 30 brought a brief revival, only for the innings to stutter again until Jadeja guided the lower order.

Jadeja shines as India lose to NZ in practice match
Jadeja in conversation with Kuldeep during the warm-up match against NZ (Courtesy: BCCI)

“Very good”, said Captain Kohli praising Jadeja’s efforts. “I mean, the one thing we spoke about in a tournament like the World Cup is, you could easily have your top order out for not too many, so the lower order has to look forward to that and I think Hardik [Pandya] batted really well. MS [Dhoni] absorbs the pressure really well and [Ravindra] Jadeja got a few runs as well, so I think from that point of view, we got a lot out of this game, which is what we wanted to. The lower order getting some runs that were the biggest positive.”

This will be second world cup for all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and he seems raring to go.

India will have a second warm-up match against Bangladesh on May 28 (Tuesday) at Cardiff at 3 pm before the extravagant cricketing event begins on May 30.

Also Read: MS Dhoni should bat at No.5 in World Cup: Sachin Tendulkar

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