Cricket fever is at its absolute best with the much-awaited ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 just around the corner. Earlier this week, the BCCI announced the Indian squad for the ICC T20 World Cup. While the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel will make a return to the side from respective injuries, on the other hand, star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja will miss out on the squad owing to a recently incurred knee injury.
Ravindra Jadeja suffered a knee injury during the recently-concluded Asia Cup 2022 and because of the same, he will miss out on the upcoming high-voltage tournament. His absence will be a big setback for the Indian cricket team.
Echoing the same lines, former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena feels that Jadeja not being available for the T20 World Cup will be a massive loss for the Indian side. He said:
“It is a challenge. They had fitted him nicely in that No.5 role. He has been batting really well and him and Hardik (Pandya) being in that top six – two guys who can give that all-round options – gave India much more flexibility in that batting order.”
He added: “It is a tough one for them, and probably a concern not having that left-hander. They’ve switched to leaving out DK (Dinesh Karthik) and bringing in Rishabh (Pant) in that role, batting at 5 or 4. Those are things they have to settle going into the World Cup. But not having Ravindra Jadeja, the form that he was in… it will be a massive loss for them,”
While Jadeja’s absence will be a big blow for the Indian cricket team, on the other hand, one of the major positives for team India in the recently concluded Asia Cup 2022 is the return of batting maestro Virat Kohli’s form. Virat Kohli was at his finest in the multi-nation tournament, where he also registered his maiden T20 century while playing against Afghanistan. This century also ended Virat’s century drought.
Talking about Virat Kohli, Jayawardene said: “He was there and thereabouts pretty much. He just didn’t have that big score under his belt to get that confidence, especially in white-ball cricket, which is always going to happen.”
“There were a few injury concerns in the last 12 months. He had little niggles and they rested him and India kept on giving people rest, with the workload that they had. So not having that consistent run also makes it tough,”
