Virat Kohli Explains Reason Behind Picking Ravindra Jadeja Over Krunal Pandya

Not very long ago, Ravindra Jadeja was not even in contention for a place in India’s limited-over teams. After being dropped from the squad in the mid 2017 along with Ravichandran Ashwin, Jadeja had to wait for more than a year to earn his first recall for the ODI side. He made his much-awaited comeback in last year’s Asia Cup and has not looked back since then.

He has been a regular face in India’s ODI team since the Asia Cup. However, the same cannot be said about his place in the T20I squad. He was a part of the squad for the series against West Indies and South Africa but was dropped for the Bangladesh assignment. At that time, ex-chief selector MSK Prasad had stated that they picked Krunal Pandya ahead of Ravindra Jadeja since both the players have similar skill-sets.

But with Krunal failing to deliver again Bangladesh, India have recalled Ravindra Jadeja again for the upcoming series against West Indies. The three-match T20I series will start on December 6 in Hyderabad. After the T20Is, both the teams will play three ODIs.

Kohli on Ravindra Jadeja:

Speaking ahead of the first T20I, India skipper Virat Kohli explained the reason behind recalling Ravindra Jadeja. Kohli explained why Jadeja was picked in the squad ahead of Krunal. Kohli said the left-hander was probably enjoying the best phase in his career as an all-rounder having impressed in all three departments.

“Bringing Jaddu back… he has been batting really well. He is probably in the best batting form of his life. Bowling, he is a proper finger spinner, very accurate as well. In the field, we don’t have any doubts about him. I think this is really his best phase as an all-rounder and you want to maximize that,” Kohli said.

Ravindra Jadeja, meanwhile, will have a chance to further impress the team management and bolster his chances of making it to the squad for the next T20 World Cup in Australia. Jadeja has done really well with the bat in Tests and ODIs. Since the start of 2018, Jadeja has lifted his batting average from 29.40 to 35.92 in the span of just 16 Test innings.

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