The Slow Fade Of Ravindra Jadeja In India's ODI Setup

Ravindra Jadeja has been off colour in ODIs [Image Credits: AFP]

India didn’t pick Ravindra Jadeja again for the ODI series against England next month. This will be the third series he will miss since the Champions Trophy 2025.

In one way, Axar Patel’s selection over Jadeja shows that management might be slowly moving away from the veteran all-rounder ahead of the World Cup 2027. They have their reasons to do so.

Why selectors are looking beyond Ravindra Jadeja?

Ravindra Jadeja has shown obvious signs of regression with both bat and ball in white-ball cricket. 

Since India’s Champions Trophy 2025 triumph, Jadeja has played two ODI rubbers, both at home, where his bowling returns were unimpressive.

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Against South Africa, he could pick a solitary wicket and conceded 6.28 runs per over across 25 overs. Later, Jadeja went wicketless and leaked 6.13 runs per over in the New Zealand series earlier this year.

His inability to bring wickets in the middle overs came to the fore again on pitches that were not so conducive to bowlers. In general, the all-rounder has been one of the worst-performing spinners in ODIs lately.

Ravindra Jadeja has been poor with the ball

Since the end of the Champions Trophy 2025, Ravindra Jadeja has the worst average (298) and the second-worst economy rate (6.20) among spinners with at least 40 overs. He’s the only tweaker with a solitary wicket despite bowling 40 or more overs.

Jadeja was never a big wicket-taker and often played as a spinner who provided control when the field is spread. However, he still chipped in with useful wickets earlier, and his control has also been completely missing now, as his economy suggests.

In the middle overs, Jadeja has gone for 6.20 runs per over and been hit for a boundary every 10.38 deliveries. He has literally been ineffective across every metric.

Batting regression

Not only as a bowler, but Ravindra Jadeja has also been below par with the willow overall. His pace-hitting abilities are nowhere close to what they were before, and he can’t be trusted as much in the lower order.

In ODIs, only one ball is now used after the 34th over to aid reverse swing for pacers, which would make Jadeja’s case trickier. Since this rule change, he has had a strike rate of just 106.55 and takes around 12.20 deliveries for every boundary from the 35th over onwards.

He’s no longer a pace-hitter, and teams have started to view him differently as well. Rajasthan Royals consistently promoted him after a few early wickets to arrest the collapse, and CSK also did the same before.

He can play around and negotiate the tricky phase, but can’t be trusted to act as a finisher anymore. In South Africa, where pacers will get more assistance and bowl shorter lengths, Jadeja’s finishing can’t be trusted, especially since Hardik Pandya is not the same hitter anymore either.

Is Axar Patel the right choice?

If Jadeja can’t whack pace in the lower order, he doesn’t have anything significant over Axar Patel in white-ball cricket. Axar is better suited to the kind of roles RR and CSK made him do.

Axar is still a better spin-hitter than Ravindra Jadeja, even though his pace game remains shaky. He showed issues with pace in IPL 2026, but remains a better batter overall than Jadeja.

This management has shown a liking for the LHB-RHB combination and, at times, has pushed KL Rahul to No.6. For the floater role, Axar is a better batter, since he can be proactive against spin.

A bigger problem lies in bowling. Despite being a defensive spinner with the ability to zoom on the stumps, Axar hasn’t developed enough as a 10-over bowler.

India haven’t trusted him to bowl the full quota of overs yet. Since 2023, Axar has bowled in 23 innings, but completed his set only seven times.

Axar Patel has hardly bowled full overs

He still needs to work a bit on bowling longer spells, particularly since he doesn’t play enough Test matches either now. But then, Jadeja’s bowling returns haven’t been great either.

So, the selectors have all the reasons to give Axar Patel a longer rope ahead of the 2027 World Cup. The selection for the England tour indicates he might be prioritised for the mega event next year, and he should now be shouldered with an increased workload from here on.

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