Shubman Gill issues no-nonsense verdict on Ravindra Jadeja’s ODI future

Indian skipper Shubman Gill has made a horrific start to his ODI career as the captain of the Indian team, having lost the first two series of his career. However, despite the loss, he jumped to the defence of Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav after the spinners faced criticism for their ineffective performance in the series.

India lost the series against New Zealand, and this marked the third ODI bilateral series loss in the Gautam Gambhir era. Hence, the once invincible side have not managed to outdo their opposition in recent times, which exposes Gambhir's failure even in the white-ball format alongside his red-ball horror show.

Indian spinners were blamed for India's loss to a large extent, as the subcontinent tracks feature handy tracks for spinners, and they often play a massive role for teams winning matches on these pitches. New Zealand spinners, on the contrary, were economical, which aided their seamers in picking wickets.

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Shubman Gill comes to the rescue of Ravindra Jadeja after a horror show in the NZ series

Ravindra Jadeja, the veteran Indian all-rounder, has found himself under fire after his horrific performance in the latest ODI series against New Zealand. Jadeja has been struggling to deliver with the ball ever since the South Africa home series.

Ravindra Jadeja went wicketless throughout the series and averaged 60.66 in his 25 overs in the series, while his batting streak is under further scrutiny, with his last half-century in India going back to 2013 against England. However, Jadeja being promoted to no. 6 is expected to do a lot more than just cameos for India.

"Firstly, I think about Jaddu bhai. I don’t know how many matches he has played over the past couple of years, but in terms of his batting, he was looking in good touch. That said, I think all of us batters, especially, were not able to convert the starts we got. Whenever you play in India, you usually see high-scoring matches, and if batters get starts but don’t convert them — at least two of them — it always becomes difficult," said Gill.

"It’s unfortunate that he wasn’t able to pick as many wickets," Shubman Gill said about Kuldeep Yadav

After having safeguarded the veteran all-rounder and his form with the bat, the Indian captain next made a move towards the defence of spinner Kuldeep Yadav. Kuldeep has been India's main strike bowler with 49 wickets from 30 matches since 2023, and also picked 19 wickets in 11 matches in 2025.

He was picked as a major wicket-taker in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, but Daryl Mitchell has strategically taken him apart. However, Shubman Gill said that he was unfortunate to have not picked up wickets in the series.

"Sometimes these things happen. Kuldeep has been bowling really well over the past couple of years and has always been a strike bowler for us. It’s unfortunate that he wasn’t able to pick as many wickets as he would have liked, but in these kinds of series, you learn and you grow," said Gill.

Shubman Gill's disappointing start to Captaincy career in white-ball cricket

Shubman Gill made an awful start to his ODI career as the Captain of the Indian National Cricket Team. Gill made a dominant start to the Captaincy stint in the longest format of the game, as he led India to a series draw in England, followed by a win against the West Indies at home.

However, he was appointed the ODI captain, replacing Rohit Sharma, and lost his maiden series to Australia in October and then missed the South Africa home series, where KL Rahul led them to a 2-1 win.

Now the second series for Shubman Gill as the captain of the Indian team has also ended in a loss, and this might be a huge blow to his captaincy future in limited-overs cricket.

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