Ajit Agarkar and Gautam Gambhir issue official verdict on Ravindra Jadeja's future in Indian ODI cricket

Newly appointed India head coach Gautam Gambhir will take over as the head coach of the Indian cricket team from the Sri Lanka series. India plays three T20IS and three ODIs against Sri Lanka from July 26-August 27. The Indian team is set to leave for Sri Lanka on July 22.

Meanwhile, Gautam Gambhir addressed the pre-departure press conference and addressed a few questions on the Indian squads selected for the series particularly on a few players as well.

He was asked about Ravindra Jadeja's omission from the ODI squad to which he responded by saying that the management is keen to try out Axar Patel and thus Jadeja has been rested for this series.

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Gautam Gambhir On Ravindra Jadeja's Omission

“Would've been pointless to take him and Axar for this short series. Either of them wouldn't have played all three games. There is a big Test season coming up, he is set to feature in a lot of games. He hasn't been dropped, very important" said Gambhir.

"I think we should have clarified this when we announced the squad. He hasn't been dropped (but rested). There are a lot of Test series coming up, and he will be playing a lot of those," Ajit Agarkar said.

A fresh report in ESPN Cricinfo has revealed the reason behind why Ravindra Jadeja was rested from the ODI series against Sri Lanka. There were two reasons why the management rested Jadeja.

The first is that Gautam Gambhir and the management both are keen to give Axar Patel a chance as the all-rounder of the side and see whether he can be useful in that role as he has been in the T20Is. Axar batting at four recently scored a brilliant 47 and picked up nine wickets in the T20 World Cup. Gambhir and the management thought that having two left-arm spin-bowling all-rounders is not necessary. Axar Patel has proved his utility when given a chance and this time around he will play as the specialist all-rounder in the Sri Lanka ODI series.

The second reason behind resting Jadeja is to manage his workload. He is still India's premier spin-bowling all-rounder in Test cricket. With India scheduled to play 10 Test matches between September 2023 to January 2024 the management is looking to keep Jadeja fresh. The all-rounder has already missed a lot of cricket due to injury over the last two to three years.

"There are only six ODIs, including the three in Sri Lanka, before next year's Champions Trophy. The selectors want to utilize the handful of games by giving more opportunities to Axar Patel and Washington Sundar," a BCCI source told Hindustan Times previously.

Ravindra Jadeja retired from T20I cricket with 54 wickets and 515 runs in his career. He is one of the only four modern Indian players to play 50 matches across formats. Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Ravichandran Ashwin are the other three Indian players to achieve this feat.

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