Ravindra Jadeja dropped! Gautam Gambhir backs Washington Sundar for India's Champions Trophy 2025 opener

Team India off-spinner Washington Sundar is expected to be included in the playing XI for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025 match against Bangladesh. Head coach Gautam Gambhir is reportedly considering dropping either Ravindra Jadeja or Axar Patel due to Bangladesh's top three left-handers.

India have picked two specialist spinners and three spin-bowling all-rounders for the Champions Trophy. Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel have similar skill sets. With Bangladesh having several left-handers in their top seven, India are expected to change their spin-bowling combination for the upcoming match.

There Are a Lot of Left-Handers in the Bangladesh Playing XI - Piyush Chawla

On the eve of India's match against Bangladesh, visuals aired on Star Sports indicated that Ravindra Jadeja might be left out of the playing XI. Gautam Gambhir was seen having an animated chat with Jadeja. Meanwhile, captain Rohit Sharma was spotted speaking with Axar Patel.

Former India leg-spinner Piyush Chawla said that Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel have done really well for the country. Chawla stated that India should pick Jadeja and Axar in the first game, as Kuldeep Yadav has the ability to turn the ball away from left-handers.

"There are a lot of left-handers in the Bangladesh playing XI. But these two cricketers have done really well for India. But I think in the first game, they should have gone in with Jadeja and Axar because Kuldeep can take the ball away from the left-handers," said Chawla.

Bangladesh's top three batters, including openers Tanzid Hasan and Soumya Sarkar, as well as captain Najmul Hossain Shanto, are all left-handers.

Ravindra Jadeja Is Being Told He's Not Playing - Mike Hesson

Former New Zealand and Royal Challengers Bengaluru head coach Mike Hesson shared his thoughts on visuals of Gambhir talking to Jadeja. Hesson stated that Gambhir’s body language indicated he had decided to leave Jadeja out of the XI in favor of Washington Sundar.

"He's (Jadeja) not playing. You can tell from the body language that he's being told he's not playing. (Gambhir is saying), 'That's my decision. I've made it. You may not agree with it but thank you very much. You may go on to play the next one but for the first match, we're playing the off-spinner," Hesson said.

Ravindra Jadeja Has Been a Key Player for India in ODIs

Ravindra Jadeja, who has retired from T20Is, has been a key player for India in the ODI squad for over a decade. Axar Patel missed the ODI World Cup 2023 squad due to injury, and Ravichandran Ashwin was included instead. Patel has improved in all aspects of the game to cement his place in white-ball cricket.

If India have to pick between Jadeja and Axar, the latter is likely to get the nod for the Champions Trophy opener. Meanwhile, Gautam Gambhir has shown strong support for Washington Sundar in recent times. Sundar has picked up 24 wickets in 23 ODIs at an average of 27.88 and an economy rate of 4.85.

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