Former Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has advised left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja to overcome his reluctance and expand his bowling arsenal following a disappointing performance in the ODI series against New Zealand. Jadeja went wicketless across all three matches, struggling to make an impact with the ball.
He also conceded runs at an economy rate of 6.13 as India lost the series 1-2. With the bat, Jadeja fared poorly as well, averaging under 15 with a strike rate of 66.15 in the three games.
His ODI form has been on the decline since last year, when he took just 12 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 33.41.
"I've seen over the last four to five years, he'll try a carrom ball in the nets but not bowl them in a match. He's extremely skillful, so if he doesn't perform well in two matches, he'll perform in the third. But to expand from that bandwidth is hard when you have played for so many years. It can come only if you play for fun like Virat Kohli is doing now,” said Ashwin on his YouTube channel.
Ashwin further urged the 37-year-old to experiment more in his game without worrying about the consequences. Jadeja is one of India’s most accomplished cricketers, having amassed 7,515 runs and taken 634 wickets across formats. He had already retired from T20Is following India’s triumph at the 2024 T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA.
"My advice to him as a friend, and I've told this to him many times, 'What's the worst that can happen?' If you try something different and get hit, what will happen? You'll perform, fail, and be dropped; that's it. You'll be dropped anyway if you are stubborn and fail by trying the same thing. The same applies even if you try something different," said Ashwin.
"But by trying something new, what if you bowl brilliantly? Instead of overthinking and assuming something negative will happen, you overthink positively. Because Jadeja has nothing to prove to anyone. He is long and a king,” he added.
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