Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were expectedly included in India’s ODI squad for Australia. But another senior player wasn’t. Someone who’s played 50-over cricket for India since 2009, Ravindra Jadeja. The all-rounder is one of the greatest-ever all-format players for India, but was left out.
Jadeja dropped from India’s ODI team
The decision to drop Jadeja and replace Rohit as India’s ODI captain has significant implications. It suggests that neither is confirmed for the 2027 ODI World Cup. Chairman of Selectors Ajit Agarkar was asked about Jadeja’s exclusion and stated that the selectors prefer Axar Patel over Jadeja at the moment. One has to wonder how that’ll change in 2027 when the all-rounder will be 38.
“Right now, we could only take one left-arm spinner (Axar Patel) for the Australia series. It wasn’t possible to fit in two. Ravindra Jadeja is absolutely in our plans—everyone knows how good he is and what he offers as an all-rounder and a fielder. But for this short series, we wanted to maintain balance with Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav in the squad,” Agarkar had said.
‘Shubman Gill & Gautam Gambhir explained’ – Jadeja
The squad was announced minutes after Jadeja was named ‘player of the match’ for his all-round performance in the India vs West Indies 1st Test. That’s why we didn’t hear anything from him. But now, Jadeja has spoken on the matter.
He’s made it clear that playing and winning the 2027 ODI World Cup is one of his goals. Jadeja also revealed that the selectors and India’s new ODI captain, Shubman Gill, have explained their reasoning behind his exclusion from the team.
“Obviously, I want to play. It’s a dream for everyone to win the World Cup; we missed out on it narrowly in 2023. But at the end of the day, it is the team management’s thinking. They had their reasons for not picking me for the (Australia) series, and they explained it to me. I am glad the captain, coach, and selector explained to me why I wasn’t picked. They informed me earlier; I did not just learn of it when the squad was announced,” Jadeja told reporters after the end of the second day’s play in Delhi.
“At the next opportunity I get, I will be doing my best; just keep doing what I have done for so many years. There are plenty of ODIs left between then and now, and I hope I am given the chance to show what I can do and perform well,” he added.
India’s ODI squad for Australia
Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (vc), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal
Editor's Pick
Cricket
How Virat Kohli's 100 in Ranchi resulted in tickets for IND vs SA 3rd ODI getting sold out instantly
Top Stories
