Ravindra Jadeja ODI Career PtiImage Credit source: PTI

Team India had to face a shocking defeat at the hands of New Zealand in the ODI series. In the last ODI match played in Indore, New Zealand won by 41 runs. This is New Zealand's first ODI series win in India. However, this result did not have any significant impact on Team India's preparations because the ODI World Cup is still about one and a half years away. But this series has raised a question – is Ravindra Jadeja's journey in Team India over?

Jadeja came into focus

In the last few months, questions were constantly being raised on the careers of Team India's two biggest batsmen. After retiring from Test cricket last year, it was considered difficult for Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to survive for long in the ODI format. But these two stalwarts showed with their consistently excellent performances that it is still not so easy to surpass them in this format.

But while all the attention has been on the careers of Rohit and Kohli, in the ODI format Ravindra Jadeja The performance of is also coming under question. Jadeja, who has been consistently doing well for Team India in Tests, is repeatedly failing to repeat his feat in ODI cricket. The ODI series against New Zealand was like a nightmare for him. In the 3 matches of this series, he could neither score runs nor take any wicket.

Neither the bat moved nor the ball spun

In the 3 matches of this series, only 43 runs came from Jadeja's bat. Not only was his average 14.33, his strike rate was also only 66.15. In this series, 22 players batted from both the teams, among them only Mohammad Siraj (50) had a worse strike rate than Jadeja. Not only this, in this series too Jadeja could not end the wait that had been going on for 13 years. The Indian all-rounder has not scored a single half-century in the ODI format on home soil for the last 13 years.

But not only batting, Jadeja's bowling has been even more troubling. He bowled only 23 overs in all three matches but did not take a single wicket in his account. During this period, he could not bowl full 10 overs in even a single match, whereas in these 3 matches, he gave away 141 runs at an economy of 6. In this way, in his career, he has not been able to take a single wicket in the 6 ODI matches played at home against New Zealand.

Jadeja had retired from T20 only after the World Cup but he is continuously doing well in Tests. However, here too his performance in bowling has deteriorated a bit but he is showing strength with the bat. But his performance in ODIs is continuously declining. In the Indore ODI, when Team India needed his magic with the bat, he got out after hitting a left-arm spinner. The ball on which his shot should have crossed the boundary, reached the hands of the fielder even in a ground with small boundary like Holkar Stadium.

Jadeja's ODI journey over?

This had put into question Jadeja's power hitting, finishing and even his ability to stay at the crease and support. Especially in comparison to Akshar Patel, Jadeja's case seems to be weak at the moment. In such a situation, now the voices are becoming louder that in view of the World Cup next year, the time has come to move ahead from Jadeja. Especially the next ODI series of Team India is on England tour in July. It will not be a surprise if Jadeja is dropped on that tour because at the moment it seems that he has played the last ODI match of his career for Team India in Indore.