Don’t know what the plan is now: Kedar Jadhav on India omission

Kedar Jadhav had a good time in the recently concluded Asia Cup, picking wickets at regular intervals and scoring runs at vital times. However, his omission from the Indian squad for the series against West Indies has raised plenty of questions.

Jadhav, who hit an attacking 41 off 25 balls in the Deodhar Trophy match for India A against India C, said there was no communication between him and the selectors regarding his selection for the West Indies series.

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“I need to see why they have not picked me. I don't know what the plan is now that I am not there in the team. Probably, I will be playing the Ranji Trophy,” Jadhav told PTI.

In response, the chairman of selectors MSK Prasad said Jadhav was not picked due to his history of injuries. “There have been occasions earlier when he has come back fit and then broke down, a case in point being the Asia Cup last month. Actually, we were thinking that if India A (had) won, then Kedar would have got another match which would have given us a fair assessment of his match fitness. Maybe, we could have added him as an additional player (in Indian team) before the fourth ODI as the Deodhar final is on Saturday. Players need to understand that there is a process that we follow while selecting the team,” Prasad said.

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Jadhav has been plagued by a hamstring injury in 2018. The right-hander missed the IPL for Chennai Super Kings after getting injured in the first match against Mumbai Indians. Even in the Asia Cup, he battled a hamstring injury. However, Jadhav cleared all the tests at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and this resulted in his selection for the Deodhar Trophy.

Selection issues in Indian cricket

Jadhav’s omission is another instance of Indian cricketers not being happy with the selection panel’s lack of communication.

Players like Karun Nair and Murali Vijay had criticised the selectors for not speaking to them before being dropped from the Test squad. However, the chairman of selectors has denied the claim.

The third ODI between India and West Indies takes place in Pune on Saturday.