Not having Ravindra Jadeja in T20 World Cup 2022 is a massive loss for India: Mahela Jayawardene
India Today
33-year-old all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja won't be a part of India's campaign in the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia due to a knee injury.
Former Sri Lanka batter Mahela Jayawardene reckoned that India are most likely to feel Ravindra Jadeja’s absence in the squad during the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia. Earlier, Jadeja was ruled out of the multi-nation tournament due to a knee injury.
Thereafter, he underwent surgery on his knee and recently shared pictures of his operation. Jayawardene reckoned that India got a lot of flexibility in their batting order due to the presence of Jadeja and Hardik Pandya, who both can play big shots in the hour of need.
"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," Jayawardena was quoted as saying on The ICC Review.
"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,” he stated.
"But not having Jadeja, the form that he was in... it will be a massive loss for them," Jayawardene added.
The 33-year-old Jadeja hasn’t played any cricket since India’s Asia Cup 2022 Group A match against Hong Kong on August 31. Prior to that, Jadeja played a handy 35-run knock against Babar Azam’s Pakistan, helping India beat the Men in Green by five wickets in Dubai.
