Indian cricket community was shocked right after BCCI excluded Ravindra Jadeja from the India ODI squad for the Sri Lanka tour. After winning the T20 World Cup 2024, Ravindra Jadeja announced his T20I retirement and made himself available for the ODI and Test formats.
Despite his below-average performance in the T20 World Cup, Jadeja was expected to find a spot in the ODI squad for the Sri Lanka tour with a vision of playing in the Champions Trophy 2025.
To everyone’s surprise, BCCI selectors left the senior left-hander for the ODI leg of the India tour of Sri Lanka 2024 set to be played between August 02 and 07 in Colombo.
Instead of Jadeja, Axar Patel who shares the same ability as Jadeja was included in the squad. The left-handed all-rounder played a crucial role in India’s victory in the T20 World Cup 2024 final against South Africa.
After India lost three wickets for 34, Axar Patel on joining hands with Virat Kohli made a 72-run stand and helped India fight back against South Africa in the final. Following his multiple impressive performances in the tournament, BCCI selectors did not dare to look beyond him.
Axar is a part of both the ODI and T20I squads for India’s upcoming tour of Sri Lanka in July. While some created rumours regarding Jadeja’s exclusion from the ODI squad for the Sri Lanka tour, BCCI selector Ajit Agarkar cleared the air during his press conference on Monday.
“We know what Jaddu has done. He’s had a terrific 50-over World Cup. No, [he is] not at all dropped. All options are open.
Either of them [Jadeja or Axar Patel] wouldn’t have played all three games if we’d taken both. There’s a big Test season coming up, where he’s likely to feature in a lot of the Tests. I don’t think three games would have mattered. I think we probably should have clarified after the selection that he’s not been dropped. He’s within the scheme of things and very important as a player,” said Agarkar.
In the same press conference, Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir revealed his relationship with Virat Kohli and claimed he had a lot of chats with him.
India ODI Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Ꮪhubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana.
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