Ravindra Jadeja's white-ball career over? BCCI official confirms final decision

The squad for India's tour of Sri Lanka brought out several surprises and gave a glimpse into India's new selection policy keeping in mind the future. One of those surprises was dropping Ravindra Jadeja from the ODI squad.

Jadeja had already announced his T20I retirement after India's title win in the T20 World Cup 2024. But it was believed that he would be a big part of India's Test and ODI teams in the upcoming ICC tournaments.

But the allrounder was dropped from India's ODI squad for the tour of Sri Lanka. A BCCI official has revealed the reason behind his drop.
Apart from being a useful batter and a bowler, Jadeja is also regarded as one of the best fielders in the world of cricket.

Also read: Hardik Pandya's refusal to play Sri Lanka ODIs cost him India's T20I Captaincy- Report

BCCI official reveals the reason behind dropping Ravindra Jadeja from ODIs vs Sri Lanka

A BCCI official has revealed that Ravindra Jadeja is no longer in India's white-ball scheme of things, which is the reason why he wasn't selected for the Sri Lanka ODIs. With limited opportunities before the next year's Champions Trophy, the selectors wanted to give full opportunities to other spin bowling allrounders like Axar Patel and Washington Sundar

"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 was quoted as saying to Hindustan Times.

Ravindra Jadeja has been a great servant for Indian cricket. His contributions to Test and ODI cricket are unmatchable. He has won numerous matches for India in his 15-year-long international career. He played every match in the 2023 ODI World Cup where India finished runners-up.

The left-hander has been a vital part of Indian teams across formats. Since his debut in 2009, Jadeja has been a part of 197 ODIs out of 354 matches played by India. He has always been in India's first-choice Playing XI apart from the injuries.

"Nothing wrong with Jadeja's performance" - BCCI official

The BCCI official further mentioned that there is nothing wrong with Jadeja's performance but the team management is looking to build a team for the future under new coach Gautam Gambhir.

"Nothing wrong with Jadeja's performance. The management just wants to look at other options as we have to build a team for the future," the official said.

With Jadeja no longer a part of India's ODI plans, it is time for his understudy Axar Patel to stand up and take his chances. Axar has been around the Indian team for quite some time now but hasn't been able to solidify his place in the first-choice Playing XI.

The Indian team management is likely to give more chances to Axar Patel in the ODIs now as he will be the preferred option to replace Jadeja.

In the T20 World Cup 2024, Axar Patel played a key role in India's title win. Axar bowled a brilliant spell against England in the semi-final and then played a blinder in the final against South Africa to help India cross the line.

Even Rohit Sharma preferred Axar Patel in the bowling department despite having Ravindra Jadeja in the Playing XI which shows the team's growing confidence in Axar.