With the league phase of the Indian Premier League (IPL) coming to an end, two players who had been part of the Indian limited-overs squads in recent times, were so below par that the selectors had to ignore them for the forthcoming white-ball series in Australia that begins later this month.
Kedar Jadhav, 35, and Shivam Dube, 27, who were an integral part of India’s limited-overs set-up just before Covid-19, are out of favour with the India selectors as neither has found a spot in the India team.
Both Jadhav and Dube had travelled to New Zealand for the limited-overs series, were part of the home ODIs and T20Is against West Indies as well as the home ODI series against Australia. Dube was also part of the Sri Lanka T20I series at home.
However, poor form in the IPL has put a stop to their international career, most likely of Jadhav, who was criticised for not doing enough in CSK colours.
While Dube had more failures than successes in India team — his last few innings were 13, 8 not out, 3, 12, 5 and he conceded 34 in one over in the last international he played, Jadhav had occasional successes. In the last two T20Is he played, he scored 9 off 27 balls in one and 27 off 15 balls in the other. Also, he hasn’t been bowled enough.
Former national selector and India player Kiran More told IANS, “I think to be fair to Jadhav, he didn’t get enough opportunities to bat up the order for Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Even when they were struggling with their batting, they persisted with him down the order.”
More added, “When he has got to bat, mostly he got to bat for 2-3 overs overs or so. For a recognised batsman, this is too less.”
In the first game of IPL, Jadhav didn’t even get to bat even as seven other batsmen were tried. He wasn’t tried even in a game against Delhi Capitals where the top six, including Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni, had batted.
Jadhav batted at No.4 just once in the tournament where he made three and at No. 5 also once where he made just 26 off 21 balls. Despite his 26, he was not persisted with at the spot.
More felt that Dube, who managed some cameos, has age on his side and can come back.
“As for Dube, I think he too got less opportunities to bat but he has certain weaknesses and he should overcome them. He still has age on his side,” More said.
Dube did play a few cameos but he hasn’t bowled much in the tournament — just eight overs, including not bowling at all in the last four games. The last time he bowled, against RCB, he conceded 14 in an over. Perhaps his economy rate of 8.25 has made Virat Kohli not give him much.