The VIVO IPL 2016 is a homecoming of sorts for Kedar Jadhav. The middle-order batsman made his IPL debut in Bangalore as a Royal Challenger in 2010. He shifted base to Delhi for the 2013 season and was a mainstay of Delhi Daredevils’ batting order for three years. Now he is back in the reds and calls the M Chinnaswamy Stadium his home ground once again.

“This ground has been lucky for me, I also made my debut here,” Jadhav spoke with fondness of his reunion with Bangalore. Jadhav’s role in the power-packed RCB line-up is much different to the one he played with the Daredevils, where he, along with JP Duminy, shouldered most of the run-making responsibility. And he is pleased to go back to doing what he believes is his strength – finishing matches with the bat. “With Delhi, I used to be under pressure most of the times. We often lost early wickets and had an inexperienced batting line-up,” he said. “But here we have the best batting line-up. I enjoy watching them bat and learn a lot from them. Here I am back to playing the role of the finisher, something I have been doing over the years. “For whichever team I have played, whether it is India or India A, I have always played the role of a finisher, and I am pretty good at it too. So this is nothing new for me. I look forward to playing the role in which my strength lies,” he said. While RCB have always boasted of some of the best overseas players, with Jadhav’s inclusion, the team’s Indian contingent has received a shot in the arm. Jadhav believes that could be the key to their success in IPL 2016.

“All the teams that have done well in the IPL have had a good mix of Indian players. This year I feel we have the right blend of the Indian domestic and the overseas players, and that makes us an overall strong unit. Our first aim is to qualify for the knockouts convincingly,” he said.

Jadhav identified RCB’s more experienced bowling attack as a sign of their improvement even as the bowlers gave away 180-plus runs in their first match of the tournament, against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

“This year RCB has a very strong team. We all know about the batting strength of this team, but this year the bowling unit is much more experienced. This is a high-scoring ground and you cannot blame the bowlers for going for runs. As a batting unit we have to score close to 180-200 runs in every game to give the bowlers something to play for.”