Was too keen to finish it off: Jadeja

Guwahati:

Ravindra Jadeja's ill-timed run-out dashed India's hopes in the Hyderabad match against Australia and the dejected all-rounder said he pursued the non-existent single in his eagerness to retain strike.

Still rankled by India's three-run defeat in the see-saw encounter, Jadeja said he tried to sneak a single off the 48th over sent down by Clint McKay because he wanted to complete the chase himself and not leaving it to partner Praveen Kumar.

"After Sachin got out, I wanted to finish things off," Jadeja said here.

"I wanted to get the strike and thought the ball was going to a no man's land. Instead, it went straight to the fielder (Cameron White) and I had come a long distance. It was difficult to get back to the crease," Jadeja lamented.

Incidentally, Jadeja was dismissed in a similar fashion in the fourth one-dayer in Mohali, where India lost by 24 runs.

"I feel very disappointed. We lost both the matches after getting so near," said the youngster.

Tendulkar and Jadeja added 32 for seventh wicket and with the Powerplay on, it seemed a matter of Tendulkar's staying there till the end.

But after Tendulkar got out scoring a memorable 175, India crumbled with Jadeja following suit in the same over.

"We could have made it easily. We were 18 runs away with more than two overs remaining," Jadeja said.

The defeat notwithstanding, one thing Jadeja would cherish forever is watching Tendulkar from the other end on a day that belonged to the Little Master.

"It was great to play the partner's role in that epic innings of Tendulkar. He was very supportive and on every ball he was telling me to play my natural game. He was telling me to take my strokes and building my confidence. It's sad that we could not see the team through," Jadeja said.

However, the Saurashtra player, who drew rich praise from his Rajasthan Royals skipper Shane Warne, was confident that India would win the remaining two one-dayers to clinch the series.

"(In the last match) we gave Australia a very close game and we almost won it. If we can get near to 350, it means we can chase any total.