On Friday, May 1, the inaugural title winners of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Rajasthan Royals (RR), registered their fourth defeat, which came against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Jaipur. The Riyan Parag & Co went down by 7 wickets, courtesy of a 110-run opening stand between Pathum Nissanka (62 off 33) and KL Rahul (75 off 40). While RR are still very much in the game, having won 6 games till now, veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja’s batting has come under the scanner.
Jadeja made a sensational move back to his first franchise, RR, as part of the trade deal for Sanju Samson to Chennai Super Kings. But to put it bluntly, Jadeja hasn’t had a great season in IPL 2026 so far, with the bat. In 7 innings, Jadeja has scored 152 runs at 50.67 average. But the underlying problem is his strike rate of just 129.91. His failure to accelerate in the lower middle order has been concerning. Against DC, Jadeja took 9 deliveries to hit his first boundary, but that joy did not last long as he was dismissed by Mitchell Starc on 20 off 14. His former India and CSK teammate Ravichandran Ashwin flagged his flaw on his YouTube channel ‘Ash Ki Baat’. Ashwin highlighted that Jadeja’s slow batting approach against spinners is a major problem.
“Many people, including coaches, have spoken to Ravindra Jadeja about taking on spinners more aggressively, but he is not listening. During the 2024 T20 World Cup, whenever India needed a left-hander up the order, they chose Axar Patel over the more experienced Jadeja. The reason is simple, Axar doesn’t hesitate. He takes on spinners and every other bowler with confidence,” he said.
Ravindra Jadeja vs spin in T20
The veteran all-rounder has a spin problem. Since IPL 2020, Jadeja has majorly struggled against spin and as a result, the opposition team has used this trick to get him out. Between 2020 and 2025, the veteran Indian all-rounder’s strike rate dipped to just 94.28 against spin, the lowest for regular middle-order batters. This trend has continued for him in IPL 2026, where he has scored only 12 fours and two sixes in the 117 balls faced so far.
On the other hand, MS Dhoni, who only features in IPL for Chennai Super Kings (CSK), has scored 2112 runs across the 241 T20 innings against spin, batting at a strike rate of 108.97 and averaging 43.1.
Ashwin also drew a comparison between Jadeja and MS Dhoni, suggesting that the duo have a shared mindset. “This mindset of Ravindra Jadeja is similar to MS Dhoni, with whom he has shared many years in the Indian team. Both prefer to take the game deep and target the pacers,” he further added.
| Stats | T20I | T20 |
|---|---|---|
| Runs | 75 | 1214 |
| Innings | 17 | 157 |
| 0s | 32 | 391 |
| 1s | 45 | 494 |
| 4s | 3 | 58 |
| 6s | 2 | 53 |
| Strike Rate | 88.23 | 112.4 |
| Average | 15 | 26.97 |
