IND lost the 'Match' but Kedar won the 'Hearts'

Yesterday was the final ODI played between IND and ENG on the most iconic stadium of the world i.e. The Eden Gardens, Kolkata. 

IND won the toss and chose to bowl first. ENG started off very steadily but with a good run rate. Jason Roy continued his form and scored 65 runs off just 56 balls. Bairstow (56) and Ben Stokes (57*) also batted beautifully and helped their team to put 321 runs with the loss of 8 wickets on the scoreboard.

IND, as usual started badly with the openers Rahane and Rahul out for single-digit score. Captain Kohli batted under immense pressure and went on scoring 55 runs. It was expected that Virat Kohli could score another big innings and save team IND, but he was dismissed by Ben Stokes. Indian cricket fans were disappointed after he got out. But Yuvraj batted beautifully by scoring 45 runs. IND got hope when Yuvi and Mahi were on the crease, but after their dismissal, IND was seen in deep trouble with 173/5 in 31.4 overs.

But there was one man who gave a stand under tremendous pressure, he was none other than Kedar Jadhav. He batted excellently with Hardik Pandya. Both these batsmen settled and catalysed the innings run rate. But after the wicket of Hardik Pandya, it was critical situation for the team. Jadeja hit couple of boundaries before he got out. Ashwin also got out quickly. 

Finally, the last over came with team IND needing 16 off 6 balls. Kedar Jadhav was on strike. Chris Woakes was bowling the final over. Kedar hit the first two balls for a 6 and a 4 respectively. IND had hopes that they will win. The next two balls were dot balls, with the scenario 6 off 2 balls. Under this pressure, with the asking rate demanding to hit a 6, Kedar Jadhav was gone for a strike, and he was eventually caught out by Sam Billings on 90 off just 75 balls. 

IND lost the match by just 5 runs and ended the ODI series with a 2-1 win margin. 

Hats off to Kedar Jadhav for his remarkable contribution in the yesterday's game. I can also say that this was the one of the best fightback effort that I had ever seen so far without Virat Kohli batting till the end! Although the match was lost by team IND, but still Kedar Jadhav stole the hearts of millions of Cricket fans across the World!!!

Thanks for Reading!!!