BIG RELIEF

Relinquishing captaincy and opening the innings does the trick for Sindhudurg Sailors' hitman Kedar Jadhav

Suhrid Barua, Pune Mirror, May 9, 2009

Relinquishing captaincy and opening the innings does the trick for Sindhudurg Sailors' hitman Kedar Jadhav, as he seems to overcome the bad patch with two useful knocks against Panhala Panthers and Devgiri Emperors which also helped his to post two consecutive win after they suffered three straight defeats.
PROVING HIS WORTH
The most costliest player of the Maharashtra Premier League – Kedar Jadhav looked out-of-sorts in the first three games. Incidentally, his dry run with the bat (scores of 12, 13 and 26) also coincided with his side – Sindhudurg Sailors suffering three defeats on the trot.
In fact, Kedar’s batting form became such a concern he was beginning to feel that the rigours of captaincy was taking its toll on his batting. It was learnt that the right-hander asked the team management to be relieved from captaincy so that he can concentrate on his batting.
“Kedar and the team management amicably tossed on the issue and decided that it would be in the best interests of the team to allow Kedar concentrate on his batting. We asked Kedar whether the pressures of captaincy was affecting his batting. We didn’t take a call, rather we left it to Kedar to decide and accordingly he was relieved and Ajinkya Joshi took over,” said Reuben Dahad, managing director of Dahad Group — owners of Sindhudurg Sailors.
LOOK LIKE A MASTERSTROKE
Doesn’t the move look like a masterstroke at least for now, given that Sailors tasted two wins and Kedar opened the innings instead of playing in the middle-order and firing? “I hope it remains that way,” Reuben exudes hope. “He has played two useful knocks for us. He’s a key player in our scheme of things.”
Kedar, on his part, said relinquishing captaincy definitely helped him focus on his batting. “To be honest, I felt that the pressure of captaincy was bogging me down.
“Now that I’m free from captaincy duties has helped me concentrate better on my batting. I want to keep this way as our team needs to win all our next four games and make it to the semis,” he added.