Is Ravindra Jadeja's Injury A Blessing In Disguise For India?

Ravindra Jadeja has been out of the Indian team for a while now. He incurred an injury - displaced thumb - during the 3rd test match against Australia in January and has been in rehab since then. 

Jadeja's unavailability has given the Indian team management time to experiment with a very important position in both test and limited-overs squad - the slow left-arm all-rounder. 

Ravindra Jadeja has been a regular in the Indian team in the last few years, be it tests, ODIs, or T20Is. His performance since 2018 has been quite beneficial for the team especially in batting, where he plays the finisher's role in the limited-overs format. 

In the ODIs, his strike rate has gone slightly up to 91.6 and so has his average - 37.7. In the T20Is, in the 6 times he has batted since 2019, he has struck the ball at a rate of 153.74 and has remained not out in four of them. 

In the test matches, where he is one of the best in the world, his batting average has gone up to 49.82 at a strike rate of 60.72. His strike rate - overall 62.49 - has now gone down suggesting Jadeja being more confident with his defence, which is a good sign. 

Since January 2021, the Indian team has named two probable replacements, who can fulfill the requirement of Ravindra Jadeja in the squad. Axar Patel in Tests and Krunal Pandya in ODIs. 

Axar Patel was a massive success in his debut test series. Against England, he took 27 wickets in just three matches at a strike rate of 28.4 while averaging just 10.6. He took four five-wicket hauls and one four-wicket haul. His skills with the ball and ability to contribute with the bat has given India a perfect replacement for Jadeja, at least in Tests.

In the ODI set-up, Krunal Pandya has been named. He, too, is a slow left-arm spinning all-rounder. Pandya had a fantastic Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021 season where he scored 388 runs in five matches including two centuries and two fifties. He took five wickets as well. 

Pandya has been picked in the squad as a replacement for Ravindra Jadeja and will hope to leave the same impact as Axar Patel did in test matches. 

While Jadeja will be hoping to completely get fit before the IPL 2021, his injury has been a blessing in disguise for the team to experiment with more players and strengthen the bench.