The BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar has opened up about the exclusion of Ravindra Jadeja from the one-day squad for the recently concluded three-match Australia series. He stressed that it was a matter for team balance and his all-round abilities were secondary at that point.
Jadeja has been a crucial part of India’s ODI setup he was in the Champions Trophy 2025 winning squad but his sudden exclusion raised many questions and the selection committee also received backlash from the fans.
Following this Agarkar highlighted that there was no place for two left-arm spinners and accommodating everyone in a short series is not possible.
“With regards to Jaddu, I mean, look at the moment to take two left-arm spinners to Australia is not possible. He’s clearly in the scheme of things with how good he is. But there will be some competition for places. It’s not that he’s… Of course, he was there in the Champions Trophy squad but because we took those extra spinners with the conditions there, at the moment we could only carry one and get some balance in the team with Washi [Washington Sundar] and Kuldeep [Yadav] there as well.
“And I don’t think we would need more than that in Australia (as far as) spin (is concerned). But he’s clearly in the scheme of things, Jaddu, with how good he is, what he offers us as a batter and a bowler, but particularly in the field as well. So, it’s a short series, you can’t accommodate everyone and unfortunately at the moment he’s missing out, but it’s nothing more than that,” Agarkar said.
Ravindra Jadeja has an exceptional record in the ODI format, he has played 204 matches in which he has picked 231 wickets and scored 2806 runs. He has already retired from the T20Is and only features in ODI and Test format.
