India squad for West Indies series: Will Ravindra Jadeja return to ODIs?

Ravindra Jadeja during the first ODI cricket match between India and New Zealand at the Kotambi Stadium in Vadodara, Gujarat. (PTI Photo/Ravi Choudhary) NEW DELHI: With most of the first-choice ODI players busy at the Asian Games and a number of players nursing injuries, it will be a heady day for the national selectors on Wednesday when they meet to select the ODI squad for the three-match home series against West Indies from September 27.TOI understands that the selectors are expected to spend a lot of time discussing whether they want to bring back Ravindra Jadeja as Axar Patel will be on Asian Games duty. The other big challenge will be deciding the second wicket, with the availability of KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya also a factor.It is learned that the team management and selectors want to move on from Jadeja. However, with Axar’s unavailability and Harsh Dubey’s injury, the selectors may consider Jadeja for the ODIs.“Jade’s bowling has not worked in white-ball cricket for some time now. Dubey has been identified as Axar’s backup. Another spin-bowling all-rounder, Washington Sundar, will also be at the Asian Games. The team management wants an established middle-order batsman,” a BCCI source told TOI.

Tricky call on Pandya

In Pandya’s case, the Center of Excellence (CoE) shared a report saying that the star all-rounder should be fit for competitive cricket from September 20. The selectors named him in India’s 50-match ‘A’ squad for the series against Australia ‘A’ starting on 6 October.TOI has learned that Pandya himself does not want to rush back to international cricket until he is absolutely confident about his fitness, which will allow him to bowl 10 overs in the match. Two other all-rounders, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shivam Dube, will also be in Japan. Suryansh Shedge is also found to have an injury.

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Will Pant get another lifeline?

TOI has learned that the selectors want to give Rishabh Pant another try in the ODI format as Ishan Kishan will be at the Asian Games. Pant will face competition from Dhruva Jurel.“The selectors feel that Pant has a game against pace and bounce which can be useful in South Africa. He is more experienced than Jurel,” the source said.