India dealt with back to back jolt as their star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is doubtful for the upcoming T20 World Cup after being ruled out from the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 owing to a knee injury.
He is set to miss competitive cricket for at least three months.
Sources privy to the development told Sports Tak that as of now his surgery is planned and it will take time recover so he might not be available for World Cup and any competitive cricket for at 3 months.
Jadeja’s knee played up after the second match here against Hong Kong, and on medical advise the star all-rounder had to make way for Axar Patel, another left arm spinner who has been in the thick of India’s scheme of things across all formats after his successful comeback in the four Test series against the Joe Root-led England in the early part of last year.
The same injury forced him to miss three T20Is against West Indies. He has been ruled out of the Asia Cup 2022 just 48 hours before India vs Pakistan mega clash. He will head back home and report to NCA for rehab.
But BCCI has to announce the squad for T20 World Cup by September 15. Furthermore, it’s still not known whether he would require surgery. In case of surgery, Jadeja will be sidelined for two months.
Once Jadeja begins his rehab next week, selectors will have a complete picture of his recovery timeline.
In the meantime, selectors are in dark about his availability for Australia and South Africa series besides T20 World Cup.
In his senior career (domestic and international), which also includes domestic first-class, List A and IPL games, Jadeja has bowled over 7000 overs in nearly 630 games across formats, for 897 scalps.
Add to this the overs he bowled in the nets and the 13,000 runs scored at the senior level (domestic and international), and it gets worse.
It will take a considerable amount of time and a thorough rehabilitation programme before he can make a comeback to international cricket.
In Jadeja's absence in the remainder of the Asia Cup, Axar Patel has been named as his replacement right ahead of the all important Super Fours' clash against arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday (September 4).
Earlier, Jadeja played an instrumental role in India's five-wicket victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in their Asia Cup 2022's opener as the star all-rounder was the joint top scorer (35 off 29) along with Virat Kohli (35 off 34) for the Team India.
Axar is a similar player to Jadeja, batting left-handed and bowling economical left-arm spin, and has filled in for the senior all-rounder on many occasions. But given the importance of Jadeja's role, how well Axar slots into it could be key to India's progress through the Super 4s stage of the Asia Cup and beyond.
Jadeja had surpassed former pacer Irfan Pathan to become India's highest wicket-taker in the history of the Asia Cup tournament. Jadeja achieved this feat during his side's Group A tie against Hong Kong in Dubai in the ongoing Asia Cup 2022. Jadeja took 23 wickets across six Asia Cup tournaments.
India are scheduled to play their first Super 4 game on Sunday.
Updated India's squad for Asia Cup: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan.
