Former Indian player Subramaniam Badrinath backed the move to exclude the veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja from the ODI squad for the upcoming New Zealand tour. Jadeja has been in and out of India’s ODI setup this year. After missing the ODI series against Afghanistan and England, Jadeja returned for the recent West Indies series. However, his poor form with bat and ball has led to his dropping again for the five ODIs in New Zealand as well.
Talking about this, Badrinath said on his YouTube channel, Cric it with Badri: “Yes, experience is important for the 2027 World Cup, and Jadeja has been an amazing cricketer. But eventually you have to consider performance. He has picked up only 14 wickets in 15 matches since the 2023 World Cup. And he hasn’t scored an ODI half-century in the last six years. So his performance has clearly dipped.”
“Though many will say he is a legend and should be treated better, as a selector, you have to make such calls. With Axar Patel doing well, it’s right to move forward without Jadeja. But consistency in decision-making is important. Probably in the last series itself, they shouldn’t have picked Jadeja,” he further added.
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Subramaniam Badrinath also stated that he would back young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal after his exclusion from the ODI squad for the New Zealand series. He scored a magnificent 110* in his last ODI against Afghanistan in June.
“His (Jaiswal) situation is very tough. He keeps performing and is doing everything on his part. He has no place in the T20I side already. He scored a century against South Africa and Afghanistan, yet didn’t play against the West Indies and is now out against New Zealand. I feel for him because he is playing well and is at his peak,” said Badrinath.
“He’s finding it hard to break into the team because of the presence of a senior player like Rohit Sharma. The opener, Shubman Gill, is the captain. That’s the only reason why Jaiswal is missing out. It’s bad luck that he’s not playing for reasons other than performance,” he concluded.
