Off-season inputs clicked for Dheeraj Jadhav

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">MUMBAI: Maharashtra''s left-hand opener Dheeraj Jadhav stood in solitary splendour in the first-class season gone by. <br /><br />He was the only one to top the thousand mark. He scored 1,245 runs from nine matches and 15 innings in Ranji and Duleep trophies. He had five hundreds three of which were doubles.Plus three fifties-- an average of 103.75. The next best was teammate Hrishikesh Kanitkar''s 935 followed by Gautam Gambhir (877), Vinayak Mane (832) and S. Badrinath (822). Badri''s Tamil Nadu colleague, S.Sriram, had been the sole thousand run-getter last seaosn with 1,263. <br /><br />Maharashtra coach Paras Mhambrey said Jadhav was looking for runs more constantly than in previous years with a penchant for the cover drive. Some purposeful work in the off-season was the reason for the turnaround for says Jadhav, who, at 24, should be a must for the next India A side. <br /><br />Jadhav''s hundred in the Times Shield final gave Air-India a platform for victory. Conversely, his early dismissal to Maharashtra teammate Iqbal Siddiqui, saw AI lose the recent Corporate shield final.<br /><br />Excerpts from the interview.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">You were known as a stonewaller not long ago. What caused the transformation into a busy rungetter?</span><br /><br />I changed my mental approach. In the off seaoson I practised the drives against spinners and running singles so as to rotate the strike.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Who helped you in this effort?</span><br /><br />Basically I did it myself. But Milind Gunjal the former Maharashtra skipper was always around to help.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">You were prolific with double hundreds. Which knock would you pick as your best?</span><br /><br />The 251 against one against M.P. in the Plate final. They had in their ranks the top wickettaker of the season Narendra Hirwani (with Sairaj Bahutule - 52 each), the young legspinner Golwalkar and two good medium-pacers, Sanjay Pandey and Harvinder Sinmgh Sodhi.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Which do you rate as the best Duleep trophy knock?</span><br /><br />The 154 against Central Zone. Their attack had Sanjay Bangar, Harvinder Singh, Hirwani, Kulamani Parida, Sanjay Pandey and JP Yadav.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">You played in the top Elite division the previous season and the lower rung Plate division this time. What was the difference?</span><br /><br />There isn''t a big difference. The Elite is tougher overall.<br /><br /><formid=367815></formid=367815></div> </div>