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'Jadeja has been playing really well this season, I think his batting has improved a lot'
Royal Challengers Bangalore's batting consultant Sanjay Bangar, on Sunday, said Ravindra Jadeja has grown as a batsman, calling the India all-rounder a game-changer after his exploits in the IPL in Mumbai.
Chennai Super Kings rode on Jadeja's blistering 62 to post 191/4 against RCB and then restricted the opposition to 122/9, with Jadeja (3/13) and Imran Tahir (2/16) doing the bulk of the damage.
Jadeja smashed 37 runs in the final over bowled by pacer Harshal Patel.
"Yeah, he (Jadeja) has gained a lot of confidence since he started playing regularly in Test format and then he kept on making contributions to the team's cause even overseas. He has grown as a batsman," Bangar said at the post-match press conference.
"And we all knew that he had fantastic potential because he is somebody who has already scored three triple hundreds in domestic cricket. So, it is good to see that he is contributing to the Indian team's cause and for CSK as well."
"Because he was the game-changer today and all credit to CSK for having outplayed us tonight," added Bangar, who was also the batting coach of the Indian team.
Bangar blamed the team's middle-order failure for their loss against CSK.
"Overall if you see, you are right, Jadeja did create an impact, but the way we started, the start was really good, but we kept on losing wickets, so having lost those wickets in the middle overs put us back in chase."
Bangar also said that Harshal Patel has been the stand-out performer for his team and he would learn from this outing.
Meanwhile, Chennai Super Kings opener Faf du Plessis, who also scored a valuable 50, praised Jadeja for his batting and fielding.
"It (the last over hitting by Jadeja) was very good. Obviously, Jadeja has been playing really well this season, I think his batting has improved a lot. And there is no fluke (in) what happened in that last over. Jadeja hits a lot of sixes in his practice session," said the South African batsman.
He also said that the last over carnage by Jadeja shifted the momentum of the game.
"So, obviously for us that was a huge momentum shift. Till that point, it was pretty much a par-score around 160-165 and the great innings towards the end made a total probably little bit too much on a slower wicket," added the 36-year-old.
Faf also described Jadeja as the most dangerous fielder.
"I have always thought (while) playing against Jadeja, he has always been the most dangerous fielder. So, when South Africa is playing India, we always talk about -- be very careful about running twos to Jadeja on a boundary because he has got an absolute cannon of an arm," he said.
"But what he is really doing well this season is, he has got a lot of energy on the field, he is diving around, stopping the ball, he is leading from the front in that department to make sure we all contribute in the field as well," added Faf.
The South African signed off by praising Ruturaj Gaikwad, saying the young Maharashtra batsman is a fantastic player and has a bright future ahead of him.