India's squad for the upcoming three-match ODI assignment against Australia was announced on Saturday and one of notable omissions from the team was that of Ravindra Jadeja. The veteran all-rounder, who featured for the Men in Blue in the ICC Champions Trophy earlier this year, has been excluded from the team for the highly-important Australia series that is set to commence from October 19. Jadeja's snub sparked speculations regarding his ODI future especially with the 2027 World Cup in sight.
What is the reason behind Jadeja's omission?
However, selection committee chief Ajit Agarkar revealed that the all-rounder is still in the scheme of things and has not been included as it is not ideal to take more than two left-arm spinners to Australia where pitches are known to favour the pacers more. The Men in Blue have decided to go with Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar as their spin options for the series.
“Look, at the moment, taking two left-arm spinners to Australia is not possible. He (Jadeja) is clearly in the scheme of things given how good he is, but there will be some competition for places. It's not that he’s out of contention. Of course, he was in the Champions Trophy squad because we took those extra spinners due to the conditions there," Agarkar told reporters.
"At the moment, we can only carry one and maintain balance in the team with Washington and Kuldeep as well, and I don't think we'll need more than that in Australia. He’s clearly in the scheme of things because of how good he is and what he offers us as a batter and a bowler, but particularly in the field as well. So, yeah, it’s just a three-match, short series. You can’t accommodate everyone, and unfortunately, at the moment, he’s missing out, but it’s nothing more than that,” he added.
Jadeja was India's top performer vs West Indies
Meanwhile, Jadeja was the hero for India in their first Test of the two-match series against West Indies. Not only did he score a century, but also took four wickets in Roston Chase & Co's second innings which saw them get bundled out for a total of just 146 and lose the match by an inning and 140 runs. The 36-year-old was adjudged as the Player of the Match for his brilliant all-round performance and will be hoping to maintain this form in the second and final Test that is set to begin from October 10.
India's squad for Australia ODIs: Shubman Gill (Captain), 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.