Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra talked about the struggling Ravindra Jadeja and said that the team management has seemingly lost confidence in the all-rounder. This comes after Jadeja didn’t bowl or bat in India’s win over the USA in the T20 World Cup 2024.
India advanced to the Super 8 of the T20 World Cup with one Group A game remaining, defeating the hosts USA by 7 wickets on a tough New York ground on Wednesday. India restricted the hosts to 110/8 runs thanks to some great bowling efforts from Arshdeep Singh (4/9) and Hardik Pandya (2/14).
India's innings with the ball saw even Shivam Dube bowl an 11-run over, but not a single one from Jadeja, who has been a more reliable bowler for the team in recent white-ball matches.
Jadeja, renowned for his all-rounder abilities, has had a silent tournament so far with both the ball and the bat. Chopra opines India skipper Rohit not bringing Jadeja into the attack against a considerably good USA batting unit highlights a lack of confidence.
"The biggest question is what is being done with Ravindra Jadeja. The captain didn't get Jaddu to bowl even a single over. Even Shivam Dube was made to bowl, although he proved expensive in that over and it seems like he is not fully ready to bowl at this level," Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
"However, not giving a single over to Jaddu and later not getting him to bat up the order, the confidence in Jaddu was lost suddenly. The guy needed to score a few runs and take a few wickets in any case because this tournament hasn't gone well for him, he has a career strike rate of 125 with the bat, and you are slightly surprised if the captain doesn't get you to bowl also," Chopra added.
Collectively, Jadeja has only bowled three overs across all three of India's fixtures in the tournament.