It looks like Ravindra Jadeja’s hopes of retaining his spot in the ODI side for the Champions Trophy is in serious jeopardy after he was dropped for the Sri Lanka series. The veteran all-rounder, who recently retired from T20Is, did not manage to secure a spot for the white-ball series, ringing alarm bells over his future in the limited-over format.
As per Hindustan Times, the BCCI has decided to look past Jadeja and are willing to try their chances with Axar Patel and Washington Sundar to determine Jaddu’s successor in the side.
No more Jadeja for ODIs
“There are only six ODIs, including the three in Sri Lanka, before next year’s Champions Trophy. The selectors want to utilise the handful of games by giving more opportunities to Axar Patel and Washington Sundar,” a BCCI source told Hindustan Times.
Jadeja has featured in 197 ODIs for India and has been integral part of the setup for a nearly a decade now. He has 220 wickets and 2756 runs to his name and has a reputation of being one of the most dependable all-rounders for the Men in Blue.
However, he played 26 ODIs in 2023 and scored 309 runs at an average of 30.90. But his strike-rate was poor 75. His only saving grace was the 31 wickets he picked up in those matches. But this year he has no 50-over matches to show against his name. So that, kind of, gives an indication.
Why Axar Patel is a better choice?
In 2023, Axar was brilliant with ball in T20Is and picked up 11 wickets in 13 matches, with an economy of 7.09. This year, in 10 encounters he was even better, and picked up 13 wickets in 10 matches at 7.10. With the bat in 2024, he has scored 92 runs at an average of 23.
In ODIs in 2023, he did struggle a bit with the bat and ball with 140 runs in 11 matches, to go with five wickets only, but his excellent form makes up for the failures back then.
Editor's Pick
![EXCLUSIVE: Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli should've played Duleep Trophy, says Pragyan Ojha](https://d16f573ilcot6q.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/imago1028753180h-339x234.jpg)