New Delhi: Ravindra Jadeja has been excluded from India’s squad for the upcoming white-ball series against Australia, despite being a key player in both ODI and Test formats.
India has announced its teams for three ODIs and five T20Is against Australia, commencing with the first ODI on October 19. Shubman Gill has been appointed captain for the ODI series, taking over from Rohit Sharma, who was a Champions Trophy-winning captain and is included in the squad alongside Virat Kohli, both of whom are returning to the national side.
The notable absence in the squad is Jadeja, the 36-year-old all-rounder who has consistently performed in longer formats. India has chosen to include three spinners—Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, and Washington Sundar—but did not select Jadeja for this series.
Following the announcement, India’s chief selector Ajit Agarkar addressed the media, stating that Jadeja remains part of the team’s plans. He explained that the selection committee could only accommodate one left-arm spinner for the series and chose Axar Patel.
“Right now, we could only take one left-arm spinner for the Australia series. It wasn’t possible to fit in two. Ravindra Jadeja is absolutely in our plans—everyone knows how good he is and what he offers as an all-rounder and fielder,” Agarkar stated.
“But for this short series, we wanted to maintain balance with Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav in the squad. This is a short series—you can’t fit everyone in. Jadeja’s quality is unquestioned. He’s very much part of our plans going forward,” he added.
India’s squad for the Australia ODI series:
Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (Vice-Captain), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (Wicketkeeper), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (Wicketkeeper), Yashasvi Jaiswal.
India will visit Australia for eight white-ball matches, comprising three ODIs and five T20Is. The ODI matches will be played on October 19, 23, and 25, followed by a T20I series starting on October 29 and concluding on November 8. The T20I squad is expected to be announced alongside the ODI team.
